Raising the White Flag
by Dree
Summary: The Feb storyline for my favorite soap couple of all time, Robert and Holly Scorpio, was lame. Here's my attempt to fix things,in which the couple figures out some truths about the virus as well as themselves.
1. Prologue

Raising the White Flag

Prologue

I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,  
Or tell you that.  
But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it  
where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder  
Or return to where we were

I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and   
destruction to come back again  
And I caused nothing but trouble  
I understand if you can't talk to me again  
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"  
then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet  
Which I'm sure we will  
All that was there  
Will be there still  
I'll let it pass  
And hold my tongue  
And you will think  
That I've moved on...

I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship  
And I won't put my hands up and surrender  
There will be no white flag above my door  
I'm in love and always will be

**"White Flag", **Dido, Life for Rent, 2003

Lyrics & Music: Dido Armstrong, Rollo Armstrong, Rick Nowels


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Robert Scorpio looked around the Port Charles airport and sighed. Not that he was terribly surprised that no one had come to see him off, but he had still hoped that maybe at least Luke would make an appearance. He knew it was too much to ask that Robin come to say goodbye. Robert glanced over at the small store, which had a display of books and magazines to keep travellers occupied. "I should write one of those self-help books. It'd be a best-seller in Port Charles: Lazarus: Planning an Effective Return," he mused.

Robert sat down on one of the airport's uncomfortable seats to wait for his flight to New York and rubbed his eyes. The past couple of weeks had been incredibly difficult and the whole thing felt like a blur. The stress of holding in all his emotions had finally gotten to him and his upper back and shoulders felt like someone had taken a giant wrench to them. He really didn't expect his return from the dead to be easy, but he sure didn't expect it to go quite so badly. Between Robin declaring her hatred of him, Mac punching him, and his old friends just staring at him, he most sincerely wished he could have just stayed out of Port Charles.

The worst part was that he didn't feel like he had explained himself very well. He didn't have the time to explain anything fully, and it felt like everything he did say came out wrong. Robin had looked like someone kicked her in the stomach during their initial conversation. He supposed that made sense, given that he had just thrown at her that he had spent eleven years killing people. He didn't really know a better way of telling her, either, though he would have preferred some more time to prepare his thoughts. It made no sense to him to preserve any vision she might have of him as a hero, but now his beloved daughter detested him. He thought back to their last conversation, when he was trying to figure out if she wanted him to stay in Port Charles:

"I've gotten along fine without you all these years, and, um, I don't really need you anymore," declared Robin.

Robert replied, "Then that's the answer. If you change your mind, just call me. I'll stay in touch."

Since his "death" in 1992, Robert had become a very different type of person. He didn't put much stock in emotion anymore. He spent that first year angry and bitter, mostly at Anna for getting him into that horrible situation, but also at Faison who set everything in motion. Then he turned his anger inwards, hating himself for the type of work he was being forced to do. After some time of that, he realized that it was far easier simply to not feel at all. He kept himself as detached as possible from everyone and everything; there were no highs, but there were also no lows, and for that he was thankful. Hanging out with Luke was the the most he'd allowed himself to feel in a very long time.

"This is a final boarding call for Shuttle 803 to New York City. All passengers should present themselves to the agent at Gate 5 with your ticket and identification," blared the loudspeaker.

Robert shook himself from his thoughts and walked over to the ticket agent.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Scorpio. I see your luggage is checked through to the Markham Islands. Please have a nice trip."

"Thanks."

The flight to New York took a half hour. He checked his ticket and saw that he had a layover of a couple hours. Robert looked around and saw an airport pub. He decided to go have dinner in one of the airport bars. As Robert ate his cheeseburger, an item on the news caught his attention: "Unrest is swelling in the Markham Islands, off the coast of Argentina. Residents are upset at their treatment by the authorities during a recent outbreak of encephalitis," droned the news network announcer. Robert thought back to his last mission to the Markham Islands, which had completely unexpectedly lead him to Port Charles. One of the most difficult aspects of virus containment, was just that, containing the virus meant eradicating any trace of it. Therefore, on his say-so, a whole village had to be burned and razed. He tried to continue eating his dinner, but found that his appetite was gone.

Robert boarded his next flight, that would take him to the Markham Islands. He settled in for the extended flight, cramming his long legs under the seatback in front of him.

In the past, one of Robert's talents as an agent had been his ability to focus on whatever investigation or mission he had in front of him. And due to his years of working as an assasin, he had become even better at detaching himself from the effects of his actions. But now he was seeing the consequences of them, and would soon face them first hand, upon his return to the Islands. It wasn't so much that things could be handled differently, due to the highly contagious nature of these types of viruses; however, Robert rarely gave a second thought to the fallout of his missions. But now he couldn't get the Markham Islands out of his mind. He cursed himself for letting his guard down, but the whole situation was so frustrating.

Once Robert was freed of his obligation to the WSB, he had sought to atone for the damage he had done to the world. As he put it to Robin, "I joined the agency to help other kids, since I couldn't help my own." How ironic that it looked as though his recent actions had probably wrought even more devastation. He thought again to the words of his MRA colleague as they finished the containment procedure, "We finished the sweep of the village. No one will ever know we were here."

"This kind of thinking will get you nowhere, Robbie," he thought to himself.

Nor would thinking about Holly. Robert had been trying very hard for the last few days to put his former love's involvement in this whole mess out of his mind. Truth be told, Robert had been spending a good deal of the past 15 years, with one notable exception, trying very hard not to think about Holly at all. However, the sight of her in person made the task infinitely harder. He thought back to when she reappeared in 1992 and told him that she hadn't wanted to see him because she didn't want him to be upset with her. He had thought her statement crazy at the time: there was nothing that could outweigh his sheer joy in knowing she was still a part of the living world? Somehow her point of view made more sense to him now.

Holly, Holly, Holly. Suddenly, Robert couldn't do anything but think about her. Little snippets of memory rushed back at him all at once, memories of her laughter, of their kisses, of making love...

Holly leaned over to kiss Robert.

"What was that for?"

"Because you are absolutely crazy. And I am absolutely, madly in love with you."

"Come here you."

Memories came crashing back, too fast to catalogue. It was as if the proverbial dam had broken.

"Can you believe it's been a whole year?"

"365 days of pure unadulterated bliss. Not to mention the nights."

"I love you."

"I love you."

Robert swallowed a small sob, making a strangled gulping noise that caused his seatmate to look over at him with alarm. He gave a little wave to indicate he was OK and sat back in his seat. A song lyric popped into his head, "There is fiction in the space between; the lines on your page of memories." Robert told himself for the millionth time that he was kidding himself about these memories, there was no way anyone could have been that happy.

But the more that Robert thought about the past, the weirder the virus situation seemed to him. Holly's involvement, her whole behavior, was out of character in so many ways. He never would have thought that she could put the lives of others at risk to turn a profit. Holly could spend money like there was no tomorrow, but he never would have described her as greedy. Robert recalled a conversation that he had with Anna, after he thought that Holly had died in that plane crash,

"As your first wife and present partner--though it pains me to tell you this--when it concerns money--you are a total and utter complete failure."

"They were Holly's words exactly!" Robert laughed.

"Well, I mean, that's what most couples argue about."

"No, no, no - not us. Never. Matter of fact, she thought it was quite funny. I can remember this, this particular time. It was getting close to the end of the month. We didn't have a bean between us. So we did the only practical thing possible. We got all the bills, heaped them together and we set fire to them. Then we bought a bottle of champagne with our last ten bucks."

And it was so strange that she didn't even flinch at the news that Robin was in the hospital, close to death from the virus. Granted, Robin wasn't Holly's child, but Robert knew that they had a special bond.

Robert frowned again. The only explanation was that the last 15 years had been unimaginably difficult for Holly. He still found it unbelievable that she could have changed that much from the warm and loving woman that he remembered, but a lot could happen in that long a space of time. He closed his eyes and willed himself to think about anything but his former life for the rest of the flight.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Song lyrics from "Telling Stories" by Tracy Chapman.

Transcripts throughout the story are by my own hand, from the TVMegaSite, and from http/


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

Port Charles 

Robin Scorpio sat back on her couch, phone in hand, held at a safe distance from her ear. She'd been on the phone for over an hour with her mother already, who was clearly having multiple issues with the idea that Robert was still alive. Anna had finally settled down enough for Robin to finish recounting all that had happened with the virus.

"And then it got even stranger. Holly showed up in town with the antidote and was holding in for ransom. Dad said she was doing it because she needed money..." Robin pulled the phone further from her ear, but she could still hear Anna's voice loud and clear. Patrick Drake walked into the room, raised his eyebrows, and then slowly backed out again. He made a mental note to buy Robin a speakerphone for her birthday.

"That bitch! If I ever get my hands on her, she will be lucky if I leave any of her bones unbroken."

"Mom, calm down. I am fine, the virus is under control and we have extra antidote stockpiled. It's OK."

"Still, I can't believe that Holly would put innocent people's lives at risk just for the sake of money."

"That's just it, Mom, I can't believe it either. It's really not like her."

"Well, you would know her better than I. It's not as though _I_ have talked to her in years."

"We grew pretty close when you and Dad, uh, disappeared. Then after she left Port Charles, we kept in touch mostly by email but we would get together in person from time to time, couple times in Paris when I was living there. Mostly we'd do something girly like go shopping. But, Mom, she always asked about my health, she always kept tabs on me," enumerated Robin. "It really, really doesn't make sense."

"If you put it that way, no, it doesn't. But who knows what could have happened to her over the last few years?"

Patrick appeared in the doorway with a large piece of chocolate cake in hand and a beckoning look in his eyes.

"Uh, Mom, I gotta go. We'll talk again soon, 'k? Love ya." Robin was relieved to end the conversation and spend some quality time with her new boyfriend.

* * *

The Markham Islands 

Robert sat at the table in his cabin at the resort that the MRA's travel agent had chosen. He was supposed to be finishing up his report on the encephalitis incident. He was also supposed to be filing his statement regarding Holly's involvement in the whole mess. He rubbed at his shoulder in a feeble attempt to relieve some of the tension that had built up. It didn't help that he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before; he had tossed and turned all night, troubled by the memories that kept rushing at him, even during his sleep.

Robert got up from the table and poured himself a drink from the bar. He had learned the hard way years ago that he wouldn't be able to use alcohol to forget Holly. He was simply hoping to keep his neurons from firing a mile a minute, so that he could think.

There were just too many things that didn't add up: the money aspect, the atypical behaviour, the sheer coincidence that Holly and her husband had invested in a company that manufactured a virus that infected the inhabitants of her former town. And Holly's stories were all over the place. First she said she was in it for money, then she said it was to get back at him. First she threw herself at him, then at Luke, then at him again. Actually, that last part Robert could believe was just due to desperation, because he wouldn't be too thrilled about going to prison either.

This situation was just out of control. He wondered how for much of it he was responsible,

"You can't possibly be that thick. Your highly exaggerated death affected all of us. What Holly did was reprehensible, but whatever action she chose to take was a result of what you did. So stop trying to explain it away or act like it's no big deal. Stop waiting for everyone to say all is forgiven, because they won't. It's not." Robin had said.

Robert thought for a moment and then pulled out his laptop and began running searches on Holly, checking on her whereabouts over the past few years. He sat back and waited for the data to accumulate.

* * *

Markham Islands Prison 

Holly Sutton Scorpio McFarlane sat in the interview room of the Markham Islands prison, waiting to speak to her lawyer. She fervently hoped that he or she would at least speak english. Although even if they did speak it perfectly, she wasn't sure it would help her story to make sense.

She thought back to the first time she heard of Crylium Industries, about six months ago. After selling the painting that she stole from Bill Eckert, Holly had found herself in possession of a fair amount of money. She paid off some debts, donated some money to charity, put some money into Robin's college fund and had even gone back to school herself, but still had plenty of money left over. She started out by investing the money herself, but found it was taking too much of her time.

Holly had made an appointment with an investment management firm in 2003. Her file was assigned to financial analyst Dougald McFarlane, who was instantly taken with his new client. They started dating after a few appointments. Holly liked Dougald, thought he was funny and good-looking and sweet (if not a little dull and naive), but simply put, he adored her. Enough time had passed that Holly had realized that she would never be able to match what she had with Robert. She remembered what she had said to Tiffany after his death, "Robert was the love of my life and I'll never find that again." So when Dougald proposed to her, she initially put him off, not ready to make that sort of commitment again. But Dougald was persistent, Holly remembered, and eventually she gave in. She was relieved that he didn't seem to notice that there was a part of her heart that she never shared.

Holly's investing tactics were somewhat ecletic, at least in Dougald's eyes. She dabbled in Green funds and so-called ethical funds. She continued to donate some of her money to charity, benefitting doubly from the tax deductions. She liked giving money to children's charities but some of her requests made Dougald cringe, like the donation to the Australian wallaby preserve. But the main thrust of Holly's investment strategy was medical research. It was not something she had ever given a second thought to, until Robin was diagnosed with HIV. But once she saw how important advancements in medications and treatments were, she focused her investments in that area.

Dougald was well aware of this, which was why he was so pleased with himself when he brought home the Crylium prospectus for Holly to look at. He had been given the information by a coworker, who mentioned that the company was doing some exciting research in HIV, but that they were also working on cures for "bird-flu-type things", and implied that the shares were poised to take off. Dougald, who spent his days making money for others, couldn't help but be excited by this prospect. Holly had been more cautious, asking if it wasn't bordering on insider trading, wanting to look into the company further before investing almost all of their funds into it.

Dougald got impatient with Holly's caution, after all, _he_ was the investment specialist not her, and decided to go ahead with the investment. Holly was furious when she found out what Dougald had done and livid when she found out that he had also borrowed significant amounts of money in order to make an even more substancial investment. He had used his knowledge of the system to work it so that her counter-signature was not necessary. Dougald was sorry for doing it without Holly's consent, but certain in his belief that they were about to become unimaginably wealthy.

Crylium's IPO went well, in the end. At the time, Holly had heaved an enormous sigh of relief. The price of the shares was climbing steadily; Dougald was beside himself with glee. Every financial analyst dreams of a coup like this, and he was about to profit from it personally. The stock's stability at least had bought Holly some time to look further into this company. She usually did some background reading on the companies in which she invested, and she was surprised at how little information she had been able to dig up so far. There was nothing Holly liked more than a challenge or a mystery, and so she had resolved to start looking into the real Crylium Industries.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: 

Stay tuned! More to come, but it may be a few days while I sort it all out in my head, especially since the work week is upon us. Also, can I just say that I don't really know much about investing, so don't get down on me if my scenario is legally impossible (as I suspect it might be)!

Transcripts throughout the story are by my own hand, from the TVMegaSite, and from the wonderful Welcome to the Scorpios website.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Robert tossed in his bed and woke up in a sweat. He got up and started looking at the results of his searches. Most of Holly's doings from the time of the explosion until the time he was released from his obligation from the WSB he was aware of. There was a crazy moment when he got his freedom that he thought very hard of making contact with her. He had tracked her to Montreal, had followed her around for a day, but then the self-recrimination ate away at him, and he fled before she knew he was even there. He remembered how beautiful she looked. Her hair was still long then, and though she didn't look particularly out of place amongst the undergrads, her sophistication and maturity glowed. His heart had ached at the sight of her.

The computer had produced a few details of which he had been unaware. He read about her marriage to Dougald McFarlane in London, and he found the notice of Dougald's death. "So that was true," he thought to himself. Then he ran a credit check, marvelling at how handy computers had always made his job. Robert noted that Holly was, as she said, completely broke. His heart sank a little at the thought that she had done it for the money. But something told him to keep looking. He clicked on a few more databases, and was able to pull up the details of Holly and Dougald's investment in Crylium, which he saw was in the range of 10 million dollars. Robert whistled through his teeth, but then decided to look at the couple's finances before the transaction. He was surprised to note that their net worth appeared to be 2 million dollars just before the day of the stock transaction. "I am no accountant," mused Robert, "but something certainly does not add up here."

A few more searches failed to turn up any bank loans made to either Holly or Dougald during that time period. "They got that money from somewhere," he thought to himself. He rooted through their financial records again, and turned out a large payment of roughly eight million dollars to Dougald from a company called Viranon. "Bingo!". Robert did a quick internet search on Viranon but failed to turn up any obvious clues.

He thought again to his conversation with Holly on the docks: "Don't arrest me. Run away with me. I love you, Robert. I never stopped.". He remembered how she looked around first, as if to see if anyone was listening. He thought of the failed ambush, the one that ended with him and Luke being shot at. Beyond the obvious, there was just something off about this whole mess.

Robert pushed his paperwork aside, closed his laptop and threw on some clothes. He then strode out the door. He had decided to go see if he could make any sense out of this craziness by talking to Holly directly.

He showed his ID to the prison guards and asked for a meeting with Ms. Sutton. As the arresting officer, his request was quickly granted.

* * *

"Robert. Here to gloat more, are we? Or perhaps you have more charges to lay against me?" Holly sat down across the table from Robert, arms folded across her chest and a skeptical look on her face.

"No, I'm here to get to the bottom of things. This is just not adding up. I think there are things that you are not telling me."

Something flashed quickly across Holly's face. Robert couldn't quite identify the emotion. But as quick as it appeared, it was gone, replaced by a completely impassive expression.

"You didn't seem to want to ask any questions before."

"Dammit, Holly, all I wanted was the antidote for Robin. Is that so bloody hard for you to understand?"

Holly lowered her eyes. "No. No, it's not."

"Now, why don't you tell me what's really been going on?"

"There's nothing more for me to tell you, Robert, we lost our money in the investment, the company was falling apart, and so I was trying to salvage something."

"Ok then, how about I start by telling you what I know and then you can fill in the blanks."

Holly raised an eyebrow at Robert.

"So I know that not only did you and your husband sink your savings into Crylium, it seems that you owe a little bit more money than that too. Where'd that money come from, Holly? And why don't you tell me about your 'friends' that accompanied you to Port Charles?"

"If you think I'm just going to wrap up all your loose ends so that you can file a clean report, you've got another thing coming, Robert," interrupted Holly. "For your own good, you should just leave well enough alone." Holly looked at Robert with such conviction that it was all he could do to keep breathing. Her tone changed rapidly. "Not everything is a mystery for you to solve." She looked over to the guard and motioned that she wished to leave. Before Robert could say anything more, she turned on her heels and stormed out of the visitation room, leaving him to wonder just what she meant by "for your own good".

* * *

Holly returned to her cell, fuming at Robert and his arrogant attitude. She was also still furious at his recent treatment of her; she had at least hoped for something as small as his eyes to soften when he saw her. On the other hand, on some level she was glad to feel angry, it was infinitely preferable to feeling scared out of her mind as she had over the last few months, since beginning to look into Crylium. She thought back to what had happened after Dougald had invested their money in the company.

Holly had decided to look deeper into Crylium, but hadn't been having too much luck. The prospectus Dougald brought home was very scanty in terms of information content. "Are these people for real?" she wondered to herself. Other companies she had invested in in the past had much more information available. She was no scientist, so she was happy when companies gave some details of their research in layman's terms. She sat down at her computer and started looking up the scientists listed in their information releases. After she had her first article published, Robin had showed Holly once how to look up scientists in PubMed and evaluate how much they had published, and how much their work was cited by others, thus showing its relative importance to the field. She thought for a moment that she should ask Robin for her help with the Crylium enigma, but then shrugged it off, thinking "there's no sense in dragging her into this."

Holly leaned back from her computer and rubbed her eyes. She kept hitting brick walls. Either the scientists she looked up had hardly published at all, or in some obscure journal written in another language, or she found no trace of them at all. She was really getting suspicious now. She thought of the money that Dougald had invested, and even though it would mean a financial loss, better to take one now rather than wait for the company to crumble. Holly knew that she wouldn't be able to convince Dougald of her suspicions without something more to show him, he being a very concrete thinker. "I never got enough credit for my sleuthing abilities," she ruminated. "Maybe it's about time that I put them to use again."

A couple of days later, Holly, fake employee ID in hand, sauntered into Crylium Industries headquarters late in the day. She put on a lab coat and moved to the part of the building that housed the laboratories. Before coming, she had been able to access the building plans and knew where exactly to find the main labs. She was pleased to see that no one was around, and set to work going through the files. Three hours later, she was still wading through files. Her reading glasses, which she normally wouldn't deign to wear except that she thought they added nicely to her 'disguise', kept slipping down her nose.

Holly was about to call it a night, but then she came across a set of files that caused her blood to run cold. The files outlined the manufacture of a virus, one more deadly than the 1918 influenza virus. The files also detailed how the rights to this virus could be auctioned to the highest bidder who could then do with it what they would. The sheer maliciousness of the plan was headlined by the fact that Crylium had also manufactured an antidote to the virus, that they would then be able to sell to whomever was in desperate need, be it governments, corporations, thus doubling or tripling their total profits. Panicking, Holly sat back and wondered what to do: she had to get the information out, but also didn't want to leave a trail behind her. Just as she was about to go looking for a photocopier, the door to the lab opened behind her.

"Ms. McFarlane," said a deep voice, "I hope I'm not interrupting your reading? We didn't realize you were such an avid fan of the biological sciences?"

Holly froze at the stranger's use of her name. She realized that they clearly knew enough about her that she would not be able to bluff her way out. "Are you the lunatic behind this scheme? Producing viruses and then auctioning off the cure to the highest bidder? What sort of lunacy is this?"

"This is very disappointing, my dear. I thought that _you_ would appreciate the neat, tidy, profit-oriented nature of our plan."

"Your plan is barbaric!" Holly shot back. "And your profits won't be long for this world once it's exposed."

"May I remind you that a great deal of our profits are now balanced on you and your husband's recent investment. I can't fathom that you would be altruistic enough to put yourself in the poorhouse?"

"Perhaps you should give that some more thought, then. I'll leave you to it." Holly put on her best show of bravado.

"You're free to go, Ms. McFarlane. But I would strongly caution you to keep this information to yourself, lest anything happen to those who are near and dear to you. In addition, there is a price for this information."

"Which is?"

"You'll find out soon enough. We'll be in touch." The stranger beckoned to his security guard and motioned for him to escort Holly out.

* * *

**Author's Notes**:

For a little "what might have been", you can read my first story "Ensemble", which has Robert and Holly meeting up in Montreal.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Markham Islands

Robert got back to his hotel room later that evening, having stopped for a couple of drinks and some dinner. He was still angry that he hadn't gotten any answers out of Holly during their conversation at the prison earlier. Trying to unwind a little, he turned on the television. He was also curious to find out what was behind the explosions and the screaming that he had noticed on his way back to the resort.

A rather frazzled-looking news announcer appeared on the screen. He appeared to have been running his hands through his hair repeatedly, and his tie was undone. "Reports have been received of large crowds gathering at various locations around the capital. The government has gone into seclusion. Protests have been held all week in response to the treatment of many Markham Island residents during the recent encephalitis outbreak. Difficulties continue to be experienced in obtaining timely medical care. The death toll has reached 1600." The harried announcer continued, "Currently the largest unrest is reported in the neighborhood of the prison, where several explosions have been reported, and a number of armed individuals are situated. Residents are advised to remain in their homes."

"This does not look good," Robert thought. He got up again, grabbed his jacket and heaed back out the door.

* * *

Holly lay on her bunk, eyes wide open, wearing a warm sweater over her prison dress. All night long, explosions had been lighting what little she could see of the sky through the tiny window of her cell. The reverberations were beginning to shake the walls of the prison. Around her, people were screaming and cheering. Holly's heart beat faster and faster but she resisted the urge to pace around her cell.

Suddenly, a rocket of some sort sailed through an opening in the prison roof. A large fire broke out in the centre of the prison. More screams and cheers erupted from the cells. The guards, at a loss as to what to do, began running around, unlocking the various cells.

Holly was swept up in a sea of prisoners flowing out the prison door. Once out, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light. When they did, she took in people running about with large machine guns. Several of her fellow prisoners took off into the woods around the jail. Holly began to panic, not having any idea of where she was and where to go. Holly fervently hoped that none of the Crylium goons were around. Not that being in jail was where she wanted to be, but at least she had a modicum of safety there, and she rationalized that since she had taken the fall, that Crylium would leave the rest of her loved ones alone. She began running away from the crowd, toward the cover of some bushes, thinking she would gather her thoughts there.

Just as she reached the bushes, an arm reached out and roughly pulled her to the ground.

"Going somewhere?" a familiar voice asked gruffly.

In a fraction of a second, Holly's emotions surged from terror to relief to worry again. "I suppose you're here to make sure I don't elude the authorities?" she retorted. She struggled a little to get away, but a hand remained on her arm.

"Listen, you're far better off with me around than you are out here with these armed lunatics. Not to mention your Crylium buddies."

Holly glared at Robert. "Two weeks ago, you were more than happy to hand me over on a platter to the authorities. Why should I believe that you're not simply going to do the same thing again? Robert Scorpio, playing the hero yet again..." She tugged her arm away.

Shots rang out nearby. Holly started and looked around nervously.

"Enough. We've got to get out of here. Now. Holly, I mean it." Robert pulled on Holly's forearm and looked at her intently. She stared at him defiantly but finally nodded her head. He grabbed her hand and they ran off, just as three burly men with machine guns arrived on the scene, clearly searching for someone.

Both Robert and Holly were breathing heavily by the time they made it back to his cabin. Robert walked in, gun drawn and quickly took inventory of the room. He lowered his gun, satisfied that the room was clear.

"We've got to find you something to wear other than that, and then we've got to get the hell out of here. You stay put, don't answer the door to anyone."

"Yes sir," Holly responded dryly.

Robert exited the cabin and quickly headed over to the resort's laundry facilities. He didn't even have to break in, all over the resort, fires were burning and rooms were being looted. He made his way into the laundry room and rummaged through some piles of women's clothing. He found a few items that he thought would fit Holly and chuckled for a second, remembering how fussy she was about clothes. He turned and headed back toward the cabin.

Meanwhile, Holly kept watch from behind the curtains. She drew a deep breath in alarm when she spotted two armed goons heading towards the cabin. Holly ran to the back of the cabin but saw that another man was coming around the corner. Hoping to find a window to climb through, she hurried to the back of the cabin. Unfortunately, the room was windowless. Holly's eyes roved around the room, frantically searching for an escape. Her eyes fell on the large jacuzzi tub. She noticed an access panel under the tub, used to get to the tub's motor. She pulled on it, scrambled into the crawl space under the tub, and pulled the access panel shut.

A split second later, the armed men smashed in the door and ran into the cabin. They quickly checked all the rooms, checked under the beds, in the closets and knocked over a bunch of furniture. "There's no one here. Let's report back to headquarters."

* * *

Robert returned to the cabin shortly afterward. His heart sank when he saw the demolished door. He cautiously made his way inside, again checking for intruders, fully expecting a firefight. Not only were there no intruders, there was no sign of Holly.

"Goddammit, Holly. Where have you gone?" He headed into the bathroom to splash some water on his face and collect his thoughts momentarily.

All of a suddenly, he heard a little voice calling his name. For a second he thought he was losing his mind, but then he looked down and saw the access panel begin to move. Robert pulled away the panel.

"I think I may be stuck." Holly had crammed herself into a corner, under the tub.

Despite the danger, Robert couldn't help but laugh at the situation, earning himself a dirty look. He reached down and started to pull Holly out. She stood up and dusted herself off.

"Thank you. Are they gone?"

"They seem to be, for now. I assume _they_ are the ones who kicked in the door? You'd better put these on," Robert threw the clothes to Holly. "Who was here, Holly?"

"I think they were from Crylium. Robert, you'd best get out of here."

"And what are _you_ going to do?" he retorted. "You can't exactly go back to prison now, can you? Nor do you have any papers or money to be able to get away from here. So you're best off in my custody, so to speak. And one way or another, you're going to explain to me how you got yourself into this Crylium mess. While I wait for what is sure to be an illuminating story, I should think that I'm your best shot at staying alive."

Holly glared at Robert but had no choice to agree. "Fine. How soon can you get me a passport?"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Windsong Resort, the Markham Islands

Robert quickly gathered up his things and prepared to leave the resort. He had made arrangements to leave the Islands on a small boat that would take him and Holly to Argentina, without needing to pass through customs. His contacts were working on procuring identification papers for Holly. Robert made a call to MRA headquarters to report that he was leaving the Markham Islands as quickly as possible due to the outbreak of violence. He also informed them that he would be taking a little time off before his next assignment. One of the best parts of Robert's latest job was that he worked freelance. He could take breaks when he needed. He worked quite a bit, but that was mainly to keep himself busy and his mind occupied.

Holly sat on the edge of the bed and watched Robert. Her thoughts were in turmoil. She wondered what had happened to the loving, effusive man she had been married to. She no longer saw much trace of that wonderful person, just a hard shell. For only the second time since she had known Robert, Holly wondered if she could really trust him. She still worried that he was planning to turn her back over to the authorities. She also worried that telling Robert what she knew would throw him and Robin into more danger. On the other hand, she did feel infinitely safer now that she was in his presence.

She thought back to another time, when she knew a different man:

"You're unreal."

"What do you mean?"

"What did I do to deserve such an understanding man as you?"

"I don't know, but don't give up on it now."

Holly continued to ponder what had caused Robert to change so much. Lost in thought, she didn't notice him calling her name.

"Holly?"

"Holly?"

"Holly!"

"Sorry, what did you say, Robot?" Realizing her slip, she blushed furiously.

Robert raised his eyebrows at her but didn't comment on her words. "Time to head out."

* * *

The boat trip from the Islands to the Argentinian mainland went by quickly, though it felt like an eternity for the boat's occupants. Robert and Holly kept their distance on the boat, both shaken by the turn of events and not clear what to make of the other's presence.

Robert sat on a corner of the deck, trying to decide what to do next. A large part of him was still steaming over Holly's involvement with the antidote and how close Robin had come to death. He _needed _someone to be punished for that. Another part of him wanted to lock himself with his former wife in a hotel room, and not come out for days. His old feelings for her were smoldering, and he was scared of how little it would take to spark an inferno. He looked in longingly toward the cabin. But he couldn't allow himself to feel that way, because when this was over, Holly was going back to jail.

The thing that both confused and concerned Robert about the whole situation was Crylium's involvement. He had no idea what to make of the Crylium men smashing up his rooms at the resort. He did believe Holly when she said that she wasn't involved in the virus manufacture. "Ah Holly," he said softly, "you and your husband got greedy and these bastards are taking advantage." He figured Crylium was out for revenge where the antidote ended up being used, without anyone footing the bill. Robert certainly didn't want to aggravate Holly's situation, and he was genuinely worried about what could happen to her in the hands of Crylium. He resolved that he would get to the bottom of this, and try to make sure that her sentence was lenient.

Holly sat inside the boat. She figured that for the time being, she was safer with Robert. However, she also knew that sooner or later, she was going to have to get away from him, lest she be sent back to prison. There was nothing she would like more than to tell Robert the truth about what was going on, and if only she had the old Robert to talk to, she wouldn't have the slightest hesitation that he would sort it out. Holly sighed and waited for the boat to dock.

* * *

Puerto Santa Cruz, Argentina

The boat docked silently, late at night. Robert thanked the captain and handed him some money. Holly was too tired to really wonder when Robert had learned Spanish. Not having slept well for the days she was in prison, she could barely keep her eyes open.

"Holly?" Robert asked quietly.

"Hmm?" Holly replied, equally quietly.

"There's a hotel booked for us here. It's not far. Can you make it?"

Holly nodded and yawned widely at the same time. "My kingdom for a bed," she said longingly.

Robert put a hand on Holly's back and guided her towards the hotel.

While Holly waited in the lobby, barely able to stay on her feet, Robert checked in at the front desk. He came over to her, key in hand. She reached out her hand and looked at Robert expectantly. Robert shook his head.

"One room only."

"One room?"

"Two beds. This way I can keep an eye on things."

"Whatever. I'm too tired to complain." Holly turned and headed off to the elevator, not waiting to see if Robert was following.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Hotel San Rafael, Puerto Santa Cruz, Argentina

A ray of sunlight broke through the gap between the window curtains and shone almost point-blank on Robert's closed eye, waking him up. He rolled over and looked at the clock. 6:42 am.

Robert laid in the bed and tried to get back to sleep. He listened to Holly's breathing for a little while. From across the room, he could tell by its rhythm that she was in the deepest of sleeps. She had been exhausted the night before; had almost fallen on to the bed.

He tried to breathe in sync with Holly's respirations, hoping that would lull him back to sleep. It didn't. Next, he tried desperately to clear his mind of all the thoughts that were buzzing around. That didn't work very well either. He kept coming back to Holly accidentally calling him "Robot", though he supposed he had earned that.

Robert got up, tried to unkink his back, and sat down with his laptop. Robin was also on his mind. He still felt that she would almost have been better off continuing to believe he was dead. He desperately wanted to set things right with her, but didn't know where to begin. The small silver lining to the chaos in the Markham Islands was that he had an excuse to contact her.

Robert retyped his email to Robin six times before settling on his words. He felt she wouldn't respond to anything too emotional at this point. On the other hand, the way things were going, she was probably just as likely to react to him not being emotional enough.

Hi sweetheart,

I need your help with something very important. I was just in the Markham Islands and the virus is completely out of control there. They are in desperate need of antidote. I know there is still antidote at GH and if I remember correctly, you guys had managed to make some more? One of my colleagues from the MRA will be in touch with you to arrange the transfer. I hope you'll be able to help them with this.

Hope you're keeping well.

Love,

Dad

Robert sent a few more emails, making final arrangements to get Holly some identification papers so they could leave the country, as well as some less important ones, making sure his apartment was looked after and a few other mundane details. He stood up and glanced around the room. Holly was still sleeping. He walked over to the door, checked the deadbolt, and turned in to the bathroom for a shower.

* * *

Some time later, Holly stirred and stretched out her arms, eyes still closed. She did an almost imperceptible double take when she opened her eyes and saw an older Robert across the room sitting in front of his laptop, checking the news. 

"Morning."

"Morning," Holly replied.

"Sleep well?"

"I did, thank you. Much better than my previous accommodations," she added wryly.

The overwhelming politeness was stifling. No one ever teaches you how to make small talk in this sort of situation. Robert eventually broke the silence: "I'm still waiting on papers for you, Holly. Once we get those, then we can figure out where to go next."

"Well, while you're waiting for them, I need to go get some clothes."

Robert frowned. "I don't think that's the best idea."

"Why? Afraid that I'm going to take off?"

"You cannot tell me that the thought has not crossed your mind," retorted Robert.

"It has. But I will give you my word that I will go, get something to wear that actually fits me, and come straight back here. Robert, I'll be far less conspicuous this way," Holly motioned to her grossly mismatched, ill-fitting outfit of the night before.

Robert hesitated. "I don't know…"

"You'll have to trust me on this one," interrupted Holly.

"What I was about to say," began Robert carefully, "was that it may not be safe for you out there."

"Come with me then."

"Although there's nothing more enjoyable than watching you shop," Robert said sarcastically, "I can't – I have to wait here for your papers. Can't have your illegal passport delivered to the front desk clerk now, can we? You go. But be careful."

* * *

Several hours later, Robert was pacing in the hotel room. Holly had still not returned and he cursed himself for trusting her. "I should have known better. Dammit, Holly, it's _my_ neck on the line." Robert moved to the window and looked out on the street. He really wasn't expecting to see anything; it was just a reflex. He walked over to the table and stared at his cell phone for a long moment. Robert knew that he needed to alert the local authorities right away, if there were to be any chance of catching Holly before she fled. But out of some innate sense of loyalty, he couldn't bring himself to pick up the phone. 

Just as Robert was steeling himself to make the phone call, the door to the hotel room flew open and Holly ran into the room, shopping bag in hand, wearing a new outfit. She took a minute after her dramatic entry to catch her breath.

"Where the hell were you?"

"You assumed I wasn't coming back, I suppose. Someone was following me."

"Are you sure?"

"Robert, we were together long enough that I picked up a few things. Definitely I was being followed. So I had to take my new admirer on a bit of a wild goose chase to make it back here without being noticed. And I'm pretty sure that I did it."

Robert let out the breath of air that he was holding. "Right then, time to move on."

"Did you get my passport?" Holly inquired. "Where are we off to?"

"In order to figure that out, I think you need to tell me the truth about what's been going on."

* * *

As much as Holly had known this conversation was coming, her heart rate still accelerated in response to Robert's statement. Since leaving the islands, she had been trying to figure out how much of the story she could tell Robert to have it make sense. The rest of it, she didn't feel ready to tell him. In some ways, she felt he didn't even _deserve_ to know how much she cared, both for him as well for Robin. She scrambled to pull together the threads to make it cohesive. 

Holly took a deep breath and started in: "I first heard about Crylium when Dougald, my husband, brought home information on the company. He was a financial analyst and that's how we met, he was doing some investing for me. Anyway, it seemed as though Crylium was poised to make a big breakthrough and that's why Dougald wanted to go for it."

"I guess their prospectus didn't include the information that they happened to be manufacturing lethal viruses?" Robert supplied bitingly.

"Do I have to remind you again that I didn't know anything about that? Truth be told, Robert, something about Crylium seemed really off to me, right from the start."

"Sorry. Maybe it just 'takes one to know one'. So, Holly, tell me how it is that you and your husband went from being worth 2 million dollars one day, to making an investment of 10 million the next?" Robert wasn't sure why he kept attacking Holly.

"How did you know about that?" Holly asked, rather defensively.

"It's amazing what a good credit check will tell you."

Holly sighed. "That was Dougald's idea. He was so excited about Crylium that he threw caution to the wind and got a loan for the bulk of the money. I never would have gone for that, and he worked it some way that I didn't actually sign for it. I almost killed him when I found out."

"Where was the loan from?"

"A bank, I assume. Why?" Holly asked quizzically.

"Well, when I was looking into things, I couldn't find any records of any major loans to either of you during that time period. But I did find a hefty payment to Dougald from a company called Viranon."

"I've never heard of them. Robert, why am I even telling you the story when you clearly know more than I do at this point?"

"It's an investigative technique, my dear. Something may jog your memory," he smiled sweetly at her.

"Do _you_ know anything about Viranon?"

"No, there was even less to be found about them than Crylium." Robert admitted. "So to recap, you and hubby made a big investment, with mostly borrowed money, then something happened, the virus was set loose, the company was in chaos, and you decided to recoup some of the money you were out? That about right?" Robert finished, a little more nastily than he originally intended.

"Actually, it's not. I lied about that when I saw you, it seemed a simpler story. Plus I didn't have a choice about telling you the truth." Holly recounted her encounter with the man in the Crylium laboratories. "They knew all about me, Robert. And then later they told me, with some threats not to mention the _death of my husband_, thrown in for good measure, that it was my job to get a good price for the antidote. And that if I did, they would consider our debt repaid."

Even after so long, Robert could usually tell when Holly was lying. She was an extremely convincing liar, when she put her mind to it, and she could fool just about anyone (including himself, on occasion). But she had a few subtle giveaways when she lied, the corners of her eyes would twitch slightly, for instance. He was pretty sure that she was telling mostly truths at this point, but wondered about the gaps in her story.

"Ok, let's back up a little. You said Dougald brought home the information on Crylium. Do you know where he found out about it?" Even with Holly filling him in, Robert still felt like there was far more going on.

Holly thought for a moment. "Err, no, hang on a minute. I remember him saying that the stock came highly recommended from a friend." Holly thought back to Dougald telling her about his plan. "I was concerned at the time that it might be insider trading or something along those lines."

"Wait a minute. So you were given information about a company to invest in, and then when you started to look into it, the company already knew all about you?" Realization dawned on Holly as Robert spoke the words out loud. "This was definitely a set-up."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"A set-up? But why?" asked Holly increduously.

"Well, I wager that's what we're going to have to find out. I think we need to start by talking to that friend of your husband's. Do you know how to contact him?"

"I should be able to find his contact information at my house."

Robert looked at Holly blankly. After following her to Montreal three years ago, the hurt of seeing her and leaving was simply so much that he had gone cold turkey. It was almost painful to realize that he didn't know something as basic as where she lived now.

"How long do you think it will take us to get a flight to London?" Holly asked, quickly catching on that Robert didn't know where she called home.

"Shouldn't be too much trouble if we get ourselves to Buenos Aires," replied Robert.

"Well, I'm all packed," said Holly with a grin as she grabbed her shopping bag, "but you're going to have to buy me a ticket."

Robert couldn't help but grin back. So much of the tension between them had defused once he realized that she was not directly involved with Crylium.

* * *

London, England

Almost a day later, the pair arrived at Heathrow Airport, exhausted from the hours of travelling.

They exited the tube station, and made their way to Holly's house. As they got closer, Robert suddenly grabbed Holly's arm. "Hold on there for a minute!"

"What?"

"You seem to have forgotten something. You're supposed to be in jail in another country. That means you can't just go waltzing in your front door."

"Hmm. Can't we just waltz in through the back door instead? There shouldn't be anyone there. I had to let the housekeeper go."

Holly and Robert entered the house through the back door. The house was in complete disarray; drawers off their hinges, papers everywhere, furniture knocked over. Holly gasped.

"It's a good thing you let that housekeeper go. People just don't take pride in their work anymore," quipped Robert.

Holly went into the office, looking for Dougald's electronic organizer. The office had been ransacked like the rest of the house. She turned everything over, but found no trace of it.

Meanwhile, Robert wandered around the living room. A strange feeling of melancholy overcame him to see the home that Holly had made without him. He picked up Holly and Dougald's wedding picture. It had obviously been a small affair, judging by their outfits.

"It was in the Registry Office." Holly's voice interrupted his thoughts. "I don't seem destined to walk down an aisle."

"Sorry," Robert apologized, and put the picture down.

"Not a problem. I would probably be doing the same thing, in your place." Holly smiled sadly at Robert.

"How long were you married?"

"For a couple of years. We - it - "

"I'm sorry, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want. It must still be very hard for you."

"No, it's fine. I haven't talked about it much. I'm just having trouble coming up with words to explain things to you," explained Holly. "Dougald adored me. He was a sweet man; it was hard not to reciprocate those feelings in some way. One should have better reasons than that for getting married, though. I was tired of being lonely." Holly paused for a moment.

"Losing him was different than los-, well, let's just say it was like losing a dear friend. Not like losing the love of one's life." She looked away from Robert to hide the unshed tears in her eyes.

A loud noise outside caught Robert's attention: "Holly, we shouldn't stay here any longer. It's not safe."

"Hang on a minute." Holly grabbed a suitcase from the front closet and headed back upstairs. Robert followed her and watched nervously as she began filling it with clothes. Once done, they headed out of the house; Holly turned and looked wistfully back for a moment, anxious for some peace and quiet.

* * *

The Pelham Hotel, London

"One room again?"

"One gun," retorted Robert, "unless you managed to fit something other than clothes into that suitcase. Besides, it's also one bank account at the moment."

Holly entered the room and flopped dramatically onto one of the beds. Things were not going smoothly. She hadn't been able to find the information on Dougald's co-worker that she had been looking for, and now they had to come up with a different way of tracking him down. Not to mention that her lovely little house had been turned upside down, and she didn't even know when she would get to sleep in her own bed again. And to top it all off, Holly was especially frustrated that she had let down her guard in front of Robert.

She picked up the remote and started aimlessly flipping channels. She and Robert had bickered all the way to the hotel about how they could locate this mysterious man. All Holly could remember was that his first name was Evan.

Robert decided to give Holly a little space. "I'm going out to get food. I'll bring you back some."

* * *

Robert came back to the hotel room in a much better mood, brandishing two bags of food. He could tell in an instant that Holly's mood had improved as well.

"Behold the mighty hunter! What are you watching?"

"Curling!" Holly responded with a large smile, one that tore at Robert's heart a little when he realized how long it had been since he'd seen it.

Robert sat and stared at the television for a few minutes, completely confused by the game. "This has to be the most boring sport ever." He tried to grab the remote control, but Holly snatched it away, and placed it under the pillows she was leaning against. "How can you watch this? What kind of crazy person puts this on television?"

"It's really fascinating once you learn the rules. I learned how to play a few years ago when I was living in Canada."

"When you were in Montreal?" Robert asked, then immediately regretted his question.

Robert's slip did not go unnoticed by Holly, who mentally filed it away. "Uh-huh. Are you going to share any of that food with me?"

Robert breathed an inward sigh of relief at the change of topic. "Yep. You still like mu shu pork?"

"Are there pancakes?"

"Of course. And extra hoisin sauce."

* * *

After dinner, Robert watched Holly for a while, and then opened his fortune cookie. His mind drifted to another fortune cookie, years before:

"It says Confucius say 'people who live in glass houses should bathe in the basement.' "

"What does it really say?" laughed Holly.

"Robert will love Holly forever and ever."

Trying to be inconspicuous, Robert looked over at Holly again. Despite the mounting danger they were in, it had been years since he felt as happy and as comfortable. He had forgotten how much fun he had with Holly. Robert floated on these thoughts for a few moments, indulging the fantasy of a reconciliation with his former love. And then came crashing down to earth once he recalled his activities of the last several years. "Too many people have been hurt because of me," he thought, and closed in on himself like a turtle.

Holly had been watching Robert from across the room as well. She saw his face harden, and thought to herself, "as soon as I think he's opening up, he goes right back to the 'man of steel'. He's not the same Robert I loved anymore." Her self-preservation instincts restored, she turned her attention back to the curling.

* * *

**Author's note**: The curling reference is for the good folks over at the Welcome to the Scorpios messageboard (you know who you are). 


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Holly, do you remember if Dougald worked with this Evan character?" Robert asked.

"I think so. Maybe I met him at a Christmas party once?"

"Hmm, I've seen you at Christmas parties, no wonder you can't remember his last name."

Holly shot Robert a dirty look. "I think I'd remember it if I heard it."

Robert came up with a plan to sneak into Dougald's workplace, reasoning that they could steal his filofax, go through it and see if there were any Evan's in it. They managed to get into the maintenance supply closet, and came up with not only good disguises, but the master key to the various offices. The pair made their way to Dougald's office. Holly's heart sunk as she read the nameplate on Dougald's office door, which now read Joseph Smallwood. Robert came up behind her and put what he meant as a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Holly shook it off.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" grumbled Holly. She had been snapping at Robert all day.

Robert shrugged. He started looking through the filofaxes on the secretaries' desks, hoping against hope that he would turn up an Evan. He wasn't getting very far when Holly's voice interrupted his search.

"Robert!" she hissed excitedly. He put down the the addresses and went out to see what Holly was looking at. She pointed to a picture on a bulletin board. It was of a company soccer team. "Look, look! That's him!" Underneath the picture was the list of the team members.

"Evan Pembleton," Robert read aloud. He ran back to the secretaries' desks but couldn't find the name anywhere. They heard the elevator open and scurried around the corner. "Listen, now that we have a name, we should be able to track him down. Let's get out of here now."

* * *

Back at the hotel, Robert started searching for Evan online. He quickly discovered that Evan no longer worked for Dougald's former employer. After a few more searches through local newspapers, he also discovered that Evan had opened his own financial services company. The contact information for that was easy to find. "Now we're in business," thought Robert to himself.

Robert took a minute to check his email. He was pleasantly surprised to see a message from Robin, which Patrick had sat her down and practically forced her to type.

Dad,

I got your message about the antidote and I heard from Morris shortly afterwards. Several vials of the antidote have been delivered to the Markham Islands. I was reading about the unrest there - did you hear that the prison was blown up? Would you be able to find out if Holly is OK? I still can't get over the idea that she would have tried to profit from the antidote; it just seems so out of character for her. Anyway, if you get any news, please let me know.

Things here are returning to some semblance of normality, at least at the hospital. I decided to move out of Mac's into an apartment. It was a good move for me and I'm enjoying having my own space again.

Talk to you soon.

Robin.

Holly wandered into the room and noticed Robert's expression. "You look pleased. Let me warn you, if it's about some money that the Nigerian government wants to send you, that's a scam."

"Ha ha. It's an email from Robin. And it doesn't contain the word 'hate' or the phrase 'never contact me again', so it's a start. Actually, Holly, she's asking after you, with the problems at the prison. You know, she told me she thought your actions over the antidote were my fault."

Holly was touched by Robin's concern for her. "It's going to take her a long time to forgive you, Robert. You must realize that. And it's not helping matters that you're not there working through things with her."

"She said she didn't want me to stick around," replied Robert regretfully.

"People do and say lots of things they don't mean, Robert, especially when they're hurting," said Holly pointedly.

* * *

The next morning, Holly made an appointment to meet with Evan. She met him for breakfast at a café. Robert sat one table over, reading a newspaper.

"Holly, so nice to see you. I was so very sorry to hear about Dougald."

Holly accepted his condolences graciously. "Thank you Evan, Dougald always spoke highly of you," she fibbed as she didn't recall hearing his name until the stock tip, "I know he valued your expertise very much." Holly flirted mildly with Evan for a little while, then asked him about the investment that he had proposed to Dougald.

"I was afraid you were going to ask me about that." Holly's heart skipped a beat. "You see, I've felt quite bad about that ever since. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. I was approached by some gentlemen and offered a hefty commission in order to suggest the stocks as a wise investment to your husband."

"I see. Do you know who it was that did that?" Holly asked politely.

"They were representatives of Crylium Industries."

"And do you know why they wanted Dougald and me to invest in their company?" inquired Holly.

"No, I don't. To be honest with you, there was so much money involved, that I didn't really ask questions. Holly, I hope we can consider this a confidence between friends. I wouldn't want the wrong people to know about this."

"Of course, Evan. I completely understand." Holly did everything short of batting her eyelashes at him.

Evan felt as if he were on top of the world. He decided to make his move. "Perhaps you'd like to get together for dinner tomorrow night?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card.

Robert sat back and stewed. "Pommy bastard."

"Oh, I'd be delighted." Robert shot a look at Holly. Her left eye was twitching. He got up and paid his cheque. "I'll give you a call tomorrow." Holly was a bit repelled at the prospect of having to spend more time in Evan's smarmy company, but managed a big smile for his benefit.

She walked out of the restaurant, and almost into Robert. He picked the business card out of her pocket and laughingly said, "Oh Evan, I'd loooove to go to dinner with you." And then stopped dead when he looked at the business card. He showed it to Holly.

"Thinking with that other part of his anatomy, I'd say." He pointed out the Viranon logo and address on it to her. "I guess he's been too busy to have new business cards made."

* * *

As Holly exited the restaurant, Evan picked up his cell phone and made a call. "Yes. It's Pembleton. You'll never guess who just paid me a visit. Yes, the widow McFarlane. She's in London. We just had breakfast in the City and I've made plans for dinner." He listened for a minute, "Absolutely. I'll be in touch."

* * *

Holly spotted the man first. She grabbed Robert as if to kiss him. A casual observer would have thought it a moment between two lovers. Holly whispered into Robert's ear. "There's a man over there following us, standing by the traffic lights." He put an arm around her and headed down the street, walking briskly. 


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Holly and Robert made it back to their hotel, after leading their pursuer on a mad chase through the streets, finally getting away on the tube. Holly's adrenaline was pumping; she was pacing around the hotel room like a madwoman. She was furious, she was exhausted, and she just wanted this whole business to be over with. And to start with, she needed Robert to go away. It was getting too easy to slip into old patterns with him, and if that happened, she'd never be able to keep him out of harm's way.

"All right, enough is enough," Holly started in angrily, "why are you still here?"

Robert looked at her, confused. "Crylium is setting you up. I'd like to know why. I have no love lost for a company that intentionally manufactures a deadly virus. And I'm worried about _your_ safety, these blokes mean business."

"I can take care of this myself," replied Holly obstinately.

"Yes, you were doing a bang-up job of that. Dammit Holly, let me help you. Why won't you let me work with you on this?"

"Because I don't trust you!" Holly exploded. "Never in my life have I trusted anyone as much as I _used_ to trust you. But you smashed that trust, first when you played dead for 15 years, and then a little more for good measure when you packed me off to rot in prison in a tropical hell-hole."

Robert looked down at the ground. "Yeah, well, you have to admit that you were playing a pretty good game there in Port Charles." He continued defeatedly, "I guess there's nothing I can do to earn any of that trust back."

Holly was a bit taken aback by Robert's admission which was completely unexpected. "You could start by being honest with me. Trust starts with honesty."

Holly's words threw both of them back to a conversation right after Holly had chosen Robert over Luke:

"Robert, we trust one another and that means what we have is just going to get better and better."

"Trust requires honesty," stated Robert.

"I'm trying to be honest," replied Holly.

"I am being honest with you. You're the one who's been cooking up all kinds of tall tales lately. Listen, Holly, what is it you want to know?" The current-day Robert was starting to get annoyed.

"What do I want to know? Who are you now? What has happened to you? You are _nothing_ like the Robert I loved." Robert winced as though Holly had punched him in the stomach.

Robert collected his thoughts and responded, "There are no easy answers to that one."

"All right, here's another question then," Holly was on a tear, "in Port Charles," she continued, "you told me that I didn't factor into your decision to stay dead at all. Is that really the truth?"

"Now that's an easy one. My first priority was my daughter's safety. Faison was still out there and the WSB was threatening to hurt her if I didn't toe their line. Robin's life superceded anything else at that point, like alleviating anyone's else pain. I'm sorry if that put you pretty low on the priority list. If it's any consolation, my own needs and desires were pretty low down there as well," finished Robert bitterly. "I spent eight years repaying some obligation that I'm not even sure was mine to repay."

"I still don't know how you could do that to any of us. Good Lord, Robert, there had to be another way," Holly persisted.

Robert exploded, "How dare _you_ give _me _a hard time about anything to do with faking one's death. You were the pioneer in that territory."

"Well, that's what makes it worse. You knew _exactly_ how much it hurt! You told me how my death destroyed you. I cannot comprehend that you would willingly let any of us - especially Robin - go through that same pain," railed Holly.

"Holly, you and I weren't even together then," said Robert exasperatedly, "I was married to Anna - you agreed to a divorce, pretty readily, if I recall correctly."

"That didn't make dealing with your death any easier. It's not as though I had stopped loving you."

"Hold on a minute. You keep insinuating that _I_ had stopped loving _you_. Are we going to have this conversation every few years, just for old times' sake? I _never_ stopped loving you, you fool. And if you had contacted me when you woke up from your coma, I would have been there right away. I would've dropped everything. Hell, if you had bothered to contact me at any point, instead of coming up with reasons to stay away, if you had been brave enough to realize that what we had was special..." Robert's voice trailed off from a shout. "I'm not saying it would have been easy, it would have been excruciating, especially for Robin, but you just gave up! You gave up on us, Holly!" His voice became raised again.

"So don't go trying to lay some sort of guilt trip on me, luv, " raged Robert.

Holly's anger and frustration by this point had dissolved into huge, wracking sobs. Tears for the years they had lost and the mess they had made of things.

"How about I tell you what I've been up to for the last fourteen years. Maybe then it will sink in to that pig-headed skull of yours. The WSB fished me out of that boat explosion. I was in pretty sad shape. But once I got back on my feet, they informed me that they had some work for me. I was their new hired gun. I went from place to place and did the contract hits. Most of the people I killed were pretty despicable characters, but I kept wondering when my next hit would be some poor slob like me, in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's no job satisfaction in contract killing, at least not for me. My only motivation was keeping Robin safe. And you have to cut yourself off from the past, because there's no going back. And once you do that, it becomes easier and easier to tell yourself that the past didn't happen at all, because you can't find a place for a horrible person like yourself in beautiful memories."

Robert didn't have the strength to stand anymore. He sank to the floor beside the bed, sitting on the floor. Holly sat down beside him.

"When I finally got out from under the WSB, I actually entertained the idea of tracking you down and trying to find some little piece of happiness. I went to Montreal, I followed you around for a day." Robert paused to steal a glance at Holly. She looked nothing short of flabbergasted.

"And then my inner voices got to me, told me I didn't deserve that kind of peace. I thought, given what I had been doing, that you wouldn't want me anymore. Because I wasn't the man that you loved anymore."

Holly remembered how incredibly lonely she had been, how that very loneliness had eventually lead her to accept Dougald's proposal a year or so later. She would have given anything to have had Robert back. Holly started to weep all over again.

Tears poured down Robert's face. It was the most he had allowed himself to feel in years. His chest was hurting and for a moment he wondered if he was having a heart attack. He finally chalked it up to the overload of emotions. He couldn't speak anymore, and finally got up the courage to look at Holly. She had managed to stop crying and was looking at him with such empathy that it started his chest to hurting all over again.

Holly reached out a hand to Robert and then put her arms around him. He put his head on her shoulder and rested. After a long while, their respirations became synchronized and they fell to sleep, still sitting on the hotel room floor, side by side.

* * *

Several hours later, Holly woke up, still sitting on the floor. She nudged Robert with her elbow. "Robert, you need to get into bed." He mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep. She managed to pull him to his feet and get him in the bed. "That old back of yours may not be what it used to," murmured Holly as she tucked Robert in and kissed him softly on the forehead, "but you'll still do." 


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The next morning, both Holly and Robert slept late, exhausted from the emotions of the night before. Holly awoke first and made her way into the bathroom for a shower. She stuck her head under the water and stood there for a long while. She couldn't wrap her brain around Robert's revelations of the night before; couldn't fathom how painful the past years must have been for him. One thing was for certain, it certainly explained his recent behaviour. Holly wondered whether Robert would be able to overcome his experiences and she wondered if her heart was brave enough to let him in again. "How many more chances are you going to get, Holly?" she wondered.

Holly came out of the bathroom, ramming the door into Robert, who had been leaning over in a rather sad attempt at yoga. She looked down at him on the floor and covered her mouth in an attempt not to giggle.

"Go on, laugh at the dying old man."

"I don't think you're dying, Robert," said Holly as the giggle escaped. "You just need to stretch your back."

"That's what I was trying to do!"

"Here, try this." Holly demonstrated a stretch to Robert, who tried it and moaned.

"Up, up, up." She patted the side of the bed. He sat and she rubbed his shoulders and upper back as she had a thousand times a lifetime ago. After a few minutes, Robert felt he could move again.

"Thanks." He wanted to say more, wanted to thank her for making him feel human again but couldn't figure out how to put that into words. He smiled bashfully at her.

Holly smiled at Robert, sensing his discomfort. She decided to change the subject: "So, Robert, what do you make of Evan working for Viranon?"

"I think it's pretty strange that the man who proposed a 'can't-fail' investment to Dougald now works for the company that supplied him with more money to supplement that investment. Somebody wanted the two of you in, and in deep."

"Do you think there's a connection between Crylium and Viranon?" asked Holly.

"I'm willing to bet there is. I've got a buddy who can look into these things. I'll give her a quick call and have her check. What time is it in New York?"

Holly looked quickly at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "Uhh, 6 am?"

"I'll make that an email, I guess. Then a nice brunch?"

"I would like that."

* * *

Returning from brunch, something caught Robert's eye. He moved over closer to read it. It was a poster for a classical music concert. Robert laughed when he noticed who the featured artist was. "Katie," he thought, "what's the chances?" 

Robert motioned to Holly to come look at the poster. "Holly, you up for a night on the town?"

"Oh, Robert, I don't know." Holly thought back quickly to the days following her awakening from her coma, when she learned that Robert was engaged to Katherine Delafield.

"C'mon, it'll be fun. We'll get dressed up and not think about viruses for a couple of hours. Plus you always liked classical music, more than I ever did." Holly was a bit surprised by Robert's thoughtlessness in activity suggestion but was swayed by the idea of a complete change of pace.

* * *

Robert read aloud part of the response to his email. "From what I can tell, Crylium Industries is a subsidiary of Viranon Consolidated. That was pretty difficult to trace, mind you. Even though Viranon is the bigger company, there's a lot less information on it. They do seem to have offices in Arizona, I've attached that address." 

"Arizona, eh? Maybe we should pay them a little visit," said Robert. Holly frowned, remembering her last foray into investigating Crylium.

Robert misinterpreted her expression. "That is, if you're OK with me sticking around? I can't handle too many more battles like last night."

"I'm sorry about that."

"No, you're not. And I'm not either. Those things needed to be said, luv."

"I would like us both to go, Robert. I think we stand a much better chance of sorting this out together," Holly admitted.

"Then let's book us some flights," replied a relieved Robert.

* * *

The concert was beautiful. Katherine's skills as a pianist had only grown better, and the orchestra was magnificent. After the concert, Robert convinced Holly to go meet Katherine backstage. Against her better judgment, Holly again agreed, mainly because she was curious to meet the woman who had played such a pivotal role in their lives. 

"Robert! It's so good to see you." Katherine gave Robert a quick hug. "But how? I thought I heard you were dead?"

"Umm, yeah, it's a long story. Let's not go there."

Katherine's eyes fell on Holly, whom she thought she recognized from a picture of Robert's. She looked questioningly to Robert for confirmation.

"Uh, Katherine Delafield, Holly Sutton. We probably don't need to go there either."

Katherine raised her eyebrows at the two of them. "And now I know why life insurance premiums are so expensive. Well, then, will the two of you join me for dinner?"

"Oh, Katie, no, I just wanted to say hello and see how you were keeping."

"No, I insist. My husband wasn't able to accompany me on this tour, and so I'm dying for some dinner company. Please say you'll come," Katherine looked imploringly at Robert, then at Holly. The three ended up having a lovely dinner, telling stories about Port Charles.

Katherine couldn't figure out the dynamic between Robert and the woman she knew had been the love of his life. There was definitely something there between them, it was almost palpable, but on the other hand they seemed weirdly distant from one another. Neither had been very forthcoming about their whereabouts over the last few years, nor why they were in London together. Katherine very much wanted to see Robert be happy; although he fully participated in the dinner conversation, there was something reserved about his demeanor. "These two were meant for each other," thought Katherine, "and I am going to do something about it."

Robert excused himself from the table and headed for the bathroom. Holly suddenly felt incredibly awkward. Katherine looked at her and began speaking forthrightly: "You know, Holly, they say hindsight is 20/20. When Robert and I were together, there was always a little part of him that was absent, stuck in the past. My mistake at the time was thinking it had to do with Anna. And then my poor instincts pushed them together," Katherine finished wryly.

Both women looked at each other for a moment and then smiled understandingly at each other. "It seems to me that this is your chance, Holly, to straighten things out."

Robert reappeared at the table a second later.

"This is going to sound strange, seeing as how I just finished a concert, but I'm going to go play a piece just for fun." Katherine got up before anyone could object and made her way over to the restaurant's piano. She began playing a romantic jazz song.

Robert got up from the table and extended a hand to Holly. "May I have this dance?"

Holly hesitated.

"Come on, I need the exercise. We haven't had to outrun anyone all day."

Holly laughed and acquiesed. The pair got up from the table and moved to the dance floor. They began moving together, both lost in thought about the past but also about how natural it felt to be back in each other's arms. The song came to an end, leaving Robert and Holly staring at each other on the dance floor. Katherine sat at her piano, with a satisfied smile on her face.

Shortly after, Robert, Katherine and Holly said their goodbyes. "It was good to see you again, Robert. Try not to 'die' again anytime soon." Robert rolled his eyes at Kate. "And Holly, it was lovely to finally meet you. Keep in mind what I said."

"I will try. And it was a pleasure to meet you, too."

* * *

It was a nice warm evening, so Holly and Robert began walking back to their hotel. 

"I liked Katherine, Robert."

"I figured you would. She reminded me of you in a lot of ways. She has a good heart."

Holly smiled, relieved to have confirmation that Robert no longer believed that she was involved with the virus or the antidote. She looked up at the stars for a moment. "Do you ever think about…"

"…about what might have been?" Robert completed her sentence. "I'm surprised you even have to ask. Especially after the boat explosion, when I was recuperating, I think I covered just about every possible variation on the theme. Some where you called me when you woke up, some where you showed up at my wedding, some where I never went back to Port Charles at all. "

"Not any where you let us know you were OK?" Holly asked ruefully.

"The further I got into my assignments, the less I felt like I could show my face again. When you showed up alive and well, you made some comment about not wanting to see me because you didn't want to upset me. Do you remember that?"

"I do. You do know that I have spent years berating myself every day for the choices that I made then, don't you?"

"But the strange thing is that I understand your reasoning more now. I thought you were utterly foolish when you first said it. Possibly certifiable. But then the farther into things I got, the more it made sense."

"Robert, it's not as though you had any choice in the matter. You did what you needed to do to keep your family safe. What else could you have done?"

"Probably a million things, but there's no going back now, is there? What's done is done."

Robert offered Holly his arm, and they continued walking, each reflecting on the strange paths their lives had taken.

* * *

Holly and Robert stood in the hallway, in front of the room they were sharing. Robert looked at Holly for a long while, then said, "We've managed to make a mess of things, haven't we, luv, for years now?" 

Holly nodded. Robert reached out and caressed her cheek. After a few seconds, she reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him. In a flash, the kiss deepened, as Robert took Holly's face in his hands while at the same time leaning her back against the door of the room. The couple continued to kiss passionately, arms snaked around each other. Abruptly, the door swung open from the inside, sending Holly completely off-balance and almost onto the floor.

"Well, isn't this cozy," smirked a decidedly annoyed Luke Spencer.

* * *

**Author's note**: So help me, I liked Katherine Delafield. Although in retrospect, it may have had some thing to do with transference; my teenaged self all ready for Robert Scorpio to come deflower me. 


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Pelham Hotel, London, England

"Well, isn't this cozy," scoffed Luke Spencer. "Look at the two of you, dressed to the nines. I hope you haven't spent all of that antidote money already."

Robert set Holly on her feet before growling at Luke. "Spencer, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I saw a report on the news about the prison in the Markham Islands being blown up. Took me a little time to track you down, buddy, but I thought I'd make sure you were ok. Wasn't expecting to have to break this sort of thing up."

The three moved into the hotel room. A collection of tiny bottles adorned the table in the corner of the room. Robert raised an eyebrow at Luke in an unspoken question.

"Had to keep myself entertained, didn't I? Took you long enough to get back, I was thinking you were going to be out all night. But it looks like I managed to get here just in time," smirked Luke.

"Listen, mate, there's a lot more to this story that we didn't know. Holly is being set up by Crylium, for some reason. And we don't have the antidote money, you idiot." Robert tried to explain, futilely.

"Oh buddy, what did I tell you on the docks? You never listen to me. I told you she would play you. She told me she was just in it for the money, didn't you, English?"

"Luke, I was grasping at straws, trying not to go to prison," replied Holly, though knowing she had minimal chance of convincing Luke.

"I think you're probably grasping at straws now that you've seen the light of day again. Or just grasping at Robert." commented Luke snidely.

"That's enough, Luke," interjected Robert.

Luke sat back down at the table and had another drink. He went on and on at length about Holly's duplicitious nature.

"Hello? Remember me? There is nothing wrong with my hearing and I am still in the room, for now, anyway." Holly went into the bathroom to change out of her dress. She came out a few minutes later in a pair of cotton pyjamas, wearing no makeup. Robert was struck by just how simply pretty she was and smiled at her. Holly smiled back, shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes in Luke's direction. Robert laughed silently and bitterly at Luke's atrocious timing. He felt his heart start to race as he recalled the passion and the potential of the kiss that he and Holly had just shared. He looked longingly in her direction and tried to ignore Luke's continued ramblings.

"I think I will get some sleep whilst you two keep catching up." Holly turned most of the lights off and got into bed.

"Scorpio, you're obviously not thinking clearly. What happened to packing her off to the Islands and wishing her 'good riddance'?" The alcohol and the lack of audience had made Luke petulant.

Robert's stomach clenched as he felt time stop. He was glad the lights were dim enough that he couldn't see the hurt and betrayal that he knew would be on Holly's face. However, the low light didn't mean that he couldn't hear the sound of her sharp, shocked, intake of breath.

"Bloody hell, Luke. Shut your goddamned mouth for once." Robert put his head in his hands.

Luke got up from the table and stumbled over to the other bed. He passed out once his head hit the pillow.

Robert crossed the room to speak to Holly. "Holly, luv, let me explain. Please."

"Robert, the bad rubbish doesn't want to be anywhere near you right now." She turned her back to him and buried her face in the pillows. Holly cried herself to sleep that night, silent hot tears that burned tracks down her face.

Robert grabbed the covers off Luke's bed and stomped over to the armchair. He sighed in utter frustration and tried to make himself comfortable for the night.

* * *

Heathrow Airport, London

Morning had come quickly. Holly once again arose first, showing no concern for the other occupants of the room as she pounded around the hotel room, opening the blinds to let in some light, slamming drawers closed as she packed up her clothes. Robert could barely move again, having spent the night in the armchair. He watched her storm about the room and wished there was someway he could explain things to her.

The ride to the airport had been painfully silent. Robert had hoped that they would be able to get away without Luke, but he awoke as they were leaving and insisted on coming along. He had snoozed his way to the airport, sleeping off the massive hangover he had created the night before. Holly had stared out the window the entire time, but had not managed to conceal her red eyes from Robert, who for his part was mortified that his ill-considered words had been thrown out there for Holly to hear. When he had said them originally, it was only to throw Luke off the scent. The sight of Holly again and his conflicted feelings over her offer to run away had completely discombobulated him, so he had resorted to a version of locker-room talk to move on to another topic of conversation. He had thought it had worked, but he now regretted the words like few others he had ever spoken.

Luke bought a ticket to Phoenix on the same flights as Robert and Holly. They proceeded through security in relative silence. Once through the gate, Holly grabbed Luke's boarding pass from his hand, handed him her own, and headed for the back of the plane. "Have a nice flight." she shot angrily at Robert and Luke.

Luke got a pillow from the flight attendant and proceeded to fall asleep almost instantly. A while after take-off, Robert managed to finagle himself the seat beside Holly. He charmed her seatmate into switching with him: "Excuse me, but my wife and I weren't able to get seats together, and I was hoping to be able to sit with her. Would you be willing to switch with me?" He smiled his ingratiating smile and the older woman fell for his charm.

"Of course, dear, it's so annoying to be split up on a flight." Robert gave her his seat number and hoped that Luke's boozy breath wouldn't be too much to endure. He slid into the vacated seat.

Holly's back had stiffened at Robert's use of the term "my wife". Although it was just the night before that they had kissed the way they did when she was his wife, it felt like a lifetime gone already.

"Holly, please, talk to me," implored Robert.

"Did you really say it?" she asked, hoping that it had all been a misunderstanding or a figment of Luke's drunken ramblings.

Robert's pause said it all. "Oh, oh, oh," said Holly brokenly.

"You have to let me explain, please luv," begged Robert.

"I can't believe you would ever, ever say anything like that about me. No matter what you thought I had done. How could you say that about someone you once loved?" she appealed. "I was so stupid, what was I thinking..." she said in frustration.

"Please, Holly, let me help you." Robert was terrified that she would flee now, with Crylium hot on her heels for some unknown reason.

"What choice do I have? I can't really go anywhere, there's an arrest warrant out for me, there are goons chasing me over the continents." Holly started to cry again. "But I was beginning to feel safe again with you, Robert, and look what that got me."

Robert didn't know what to say. Holly put her headphones on, turning her back on Robert, and stared out the window at the clouds, fighting a new round of bitter tears. Robert sat silently beside her, at a loss as to what to do next.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Phoenix, Arizona

Robert, Holly and Luke arrived in Phoenix and checked into another hotel. The motley team assembled to come up with a plan to infiltrate Viranon. Robert had told Luke enough of the story that he was willing to go along with the investigation, though he maintained (loudly) a large dose of cynicism towards Holly's involvement.

"Right, so I think we should try the custodian route again. That'll get us keys, and a reason to be in there." Robert was in full-on investigative mode, for which Holly breathed a sigh of relief. It was a lot easier to focus on the task at hand with him acting cold and calculating.

"Why not go in as scientists, lab coats, you know?" asked Luke excitedly.

"Been there, done that," replied Holly. "It did not go well. Plus, what if someone asks you a scientific question?"

"Bah, you underestimate me, English. I'd just make something up."

"Janitors!" said Robert and Holly simultaneously.

"Fine, whatever," grumbled Luke.

* * *

In the end, Viranon turned out not to have a lot of laboratory space. Instead, it was full of offices and computer terminals. Robert, Holly and Luke split up and began exploring the various offices.

Holly came out of one office, puzzled over the stack of printouts in her hand. "Look at this, Robert, there's mountains of it in that office over there. It all seems to be in code."

The pages were covered in similar notation:

1 agttgttagt ctacgtggac cgacaagaac agtttcgaat cggaagcttg cttaacgtag

61 ttctaacagt tttttattag agagcagatc tctgatgaac aaccaacgga aaaagacggg

121 tcgaccgtct ttcaatatgc tgaaacgcgc gagaaaccgc gtgtcaactg tttcacagtt

181 ggcgaagaga ttctcaaaag gattgctctc aggccaagga cccatgaaat tggtgatggc

241 tttcatagca ttcctaagat ttctagccat acccccaaca gcaggaattt tggctagatg

301 gggctcattc aagaagaatg gagcgattaa agtgttacag ggtttcaaga aagaaatctc

361 aaacatgttg aatataatga atagaaggaa gagatccgtg accatgctcc ttatgctgct

421 gcccacagcc ttggcgtttc atctgaccac acgaggggga gagccgcata tgatagttac

481 caagcaggaa agaggaaagt cacttttgtt taagacctca gctggtgtca acatgtgcac

541 ccttattgcg atggatttgg gagagttatg tgaggacaca atgacttaca aatgccctcg

601 aatcactgag gcggaaccag atgacgttga ttgttggtgc aatgccacag acacatgggt

661 gacctatgga acgtgttccc aaactggcga gcaccgacga gacaaacgtt ccgtcgcact

721 ggccccacac gtgggacttg gtctagaaac aagaaccgaa acgtggatgt cctctgaagg

Robert glanced at it quickly. It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't figure out why. "Let's make some copies of it and get out of here before we're caught in the act. Spencer, you haven't managed to find anything worthwhile, have you?"

* * *

Outside of the building, further down the street, the three looked again at the papers they had stolen. It made little sense to them. 

"What do you think it is? It looks like gibberish to me. Why only 4 letters? That's the stupidest code I've ever seen! Only 4 letters, too simple." declared Luke.

Something in Luke's words about a simple code jumpstarted Robert's memory. "I think that it might be genetic code. We got it from a lab, so I know someone who might be able to help." replied Robert, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. After a minute, the call was answered.

"Hello?"

"Robin, it's your father. I need your help," stated Robert matter-of-factly.

"What with?" asked Robin cautiously.

"I've got some information that I've, um, borrowed from a laboratory. I have a hunch as to what it is, but I want to make sure, and I need more details. Can you have a look at it for me?"

"I guess so. Isn't there anyone in your medical spy agency that can look at it for you?"

"There is, but I would prefer to keep this on the QT," replied Robert.

"All right. You can fax it to me if you want. By the way, have you heard any news of Holly?"

"Umm, yeah, I checked on that." Robert glanced over at Holly. "Everything's fine." He didn't feel it would be appropriate to elaborate at the moment, to mention that "hey, she happens to be right here beside me" or that he had managed to break her heart two days before.

"Good. Here's my fax number." Robert jotted down the number that Robin rhymed off.

Robert wanted to ask about how things were going with Patrick, he wanted to ask how Robin was feeling physically, had all kinds of questions, but she wasn't giving him much of an opening. "Thanks, sweetheart. How're you doing?"

"All right. Busy, you know, the usual. So when should I expect that fax?" Robin didn't feel like making small talk with her father and cut things short.

Luke had wandered down the street. Robert caught sight of him and noticed that he happened to be standing right in front of one of those stores where one can photocopy and use computers and fax documents. "Give me a couple of minutes, luv. Thanks again."

Holly looked at Robert for a second as they began walking towards Luke. Having heard Robert's side of the phone conversation, she wanted to say something about his interaction with Robin but on the other hand, didn't want to get into things anymore. Finally she couldn't hold back any longer: "Robert, if I didn't know to whom you were speaking, I'd think you had called your new secretary."

Robert knew what she was referring to, but didn't know what to do about it. "She's really angry with me, Holly. I don't know what to say to her," he responded honestly.

"And I suppose you're letting her take the lead?"

Robert looked at her sheepishly. "You think that's a mistake."

"I think a change in her attitude will be a long time coming if you don't give her any evidence to suggest she should change it," replied Holly, as she walked into the store.

Robert looked at her for a long minute, processing her words.

* * *

Robin called Robert back later that night. "Scorpio," he answered. 

"Dad, this is crazy stuff. Where did you say you found it?" Robin was brimming with excitement over the scientific intrigue.

"Never mind that now. What does it mean?

"Those are DNA sequences. Viral sequences. But the weird thing is, I ran them through a sequence database and couldn't find any matches. None of those sequences have been reported before. There's at least 10 different ones in the pages you sent me."

"So, you're telling me those are newly developed viruses?"

"Yeah, they look like they've been engineered. They're very similar to naturally-occuring viruses like the avian flu, only they appear to be more virulent."

"That's my girl." Robert grinned widely which came through on the phone.

"Uh, thanks Dad," replied Robin at the unexpected compliment. "But there's more."

"Do tell."

"Engineered viruses, uhh, a lot of times these people who are actually making viruses will put additional sequences in the intronic regions of the gene. So they don't affect transcription and translation but make them recognizable to people in the field."

"Whoa, whoa, your old dad went to school before DNA was invented. English translation, please."

"Think of like a signature on a forged painting. You just need to know where to look for it as it's in a part of the gene that's not used," explained Robin.

The wheels were turning in Robert's head. "So we could know who designed the viruses?"

"Yes, assuming they have published the sequences of anything else that they've engineered."

"How do we find that out?" asked Robert.

"Check your inbox. I cross-referenced the sequences against the same database that I mentioned earlier and came up with a partial list of scientists."

"Have I told you lately that you are brilliant? Thank you so much, luv."

"You're welcome, Dad. I suppose you're not able to let me in on what's going on?" Robin asked, anticipating a negative answer.

"Right at the minute, no, but how's about I swing by Port Charles once this is all sorted, and fill you in?" offered Robert.

"I'd like that, actually," smiled Robin.

"Good. Me too, sweetheart. I'll talk to you soon."

Robert hung up the phone, looking satisfied with himself. Holly couldn't help but let a tiny smile creep across her face for a split second, which had disappeared by the time Robert began explaning the gravity of the situation to her and Luke.

* * *

**Author's Note**: The virus stuff - mostly made up, ok? So don't bother me with issues of scientific implausibility. :)  



	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Robert quickly filled Luke and Holly in on what he had learned from Robin: "and so it looks like Viranon, or Crylium, is in the virus business. The encephalitis wasn't a one time thing. By the sounds of things, the other viruses could be increasingly lethal."

"So they're making some kind of mega-bird-flu-super-plague? Niiiiiice," drawled Luke. "Some classy business partners you've got there, English."

Holly just gave Luke a dirty look in response.

* * *

The trio spent the next couple of days driving from state to state, interviewing the scientists from Robin's list. None of them had much to contribute to an understanding of the mystery. They had been approached by head-hunters and offered large sums of money to design viruses. Various promises had been thrown around, depending on the motivations or needs of the person involved. Some of them were told that the viruses would be used to better medicine's understanding of viral treatments. Others were told the viruses might be used in certain international conflicts. And others just took the money, finally happy to be compensated as they thought they should be for doing what they loved best. None had any information as to the origins of the company they were working for, and they were all obviously pretty bad liars, so Robert felt confident that they really didn't know.

With every scientist that they encountered, Luke became more gleeful in his taunts of Holly. Without someone else to blame for these viruses, and with the greedy attitude of most of the scientists to support his theory, he became more and more convinced that the virus was an evil means to money. He repeated his claims after each meeting. Initially, Holly argued with him, defending herself, but then realized without revealing the whole story there wasn't much she could do to change his mind. For his part, Robert was becoming increasingly worried about Holly, whom he saw shutting herself off more and more after each dead end.

* * *

Hotel Room, outside of Berkeley, CA

Robert saw the lights on the TV flickering and wandered through the adjoining door to Holly's hotel room. He handed her a drink. "Spencer's been giving you a hard time for days."

"Well, he still thinks that I'm behind the virus in some way. I guess he's entitled," shrugged Holly. Robert could read the defeat in her eyes.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Is that not what we're doing already?"

"Uh, yeah, good point," Robert swallowed and continued nervously, "Listen, luv, there is absolutely nothing I can say that will take away the hurt that I caused you with that stupid remark. All I can say to you is that I was both so scared and angry about Robin, and so confused about your offer on the docks, and then to walk in and see you kissing Spencer..."

Holly looked at Robert sternly, weighing her words in her head. "It was an awful thing to say."

"I know, the one of the most idiotic things ever out of these lips. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. That's all I can ask," implored Robert. When she didn't yell at him or tell him to get out, he took that as a good sign. "Holly, I have something more to tell you. Regarding something a very wise person said to me recently about trying to change people's attitudes."

Holly raised an eyebrow as Robert came over to sit by her.

"We _are_ going to sort this mess out, and we _are _going to clear your name. And when that happens, if by chance you have found it in your heart to forgive me, then I want you to remember that kiss from the other night, because I think we both know where that was heading, and then I want you to remember something else." Robert took Holly's face in his hands and kissed her sweetly. "You've made me feel human again, luv, and I owe you so much for that." Robert stood up and headed back into his room.

Holly touched her lips in wonder as Robert exited. She sat back on her bed, thinking hard about what she needed to do.

* * *

Another three scientists, another three dead ends. Although he wasn't about to say anything to Holly, and certainly not to Luke, Robert was being to feel a little desperate. They had run through all the names on the list, and were about to meet with the last person. So far, all the scientists had told similar stories, and Robert had no reason to believe that things would be any different with Andrew Burns.

Holly, Luke and Robert walked into the lab. Music was blaring from a stereo and a young man was standing at the back of the lab, pipetting liquid into small tubes. He stood about 6 foot 5 and had a shock of bright red hair that stood straight up from his head. His prominent eyes darted from side to side, taking in his visitors. Luke mumbled "meep meep" under his breath. Holly heard him and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud.

Dr. Burns bounded over and greeted his vistors happily. "Welcome! I understand you have some questions about my work?"

"Can you tell us how you came to be working on developing this virus?" asked Robert.

"Sure, I was contacted by my a former colleague of mine. We had worked together in the past, and he thought I would be a good person for the job. I am just so happy to have the chance to help find a cure for this. It's a really close cousin to the avian flu strains that are currently circulating, so my work will hopefully be able to save many lives." The young scientist was brimming with pride.

"What's his name?"

"Who?" Andrew was distracted from his scientific rhapsody.

"Your colleague, the one who put you onto the project."

"Gunther Neuhaus. He was my thesis advisor." The name wasn't on Robin's list.

"Would you be able to put us in touch with Dr. Neuhaus?" Robert persisted.

"Oh sure." Dr. Burns was so excited about his own work that he failed to have any appreciation of security. "He has a small lab in Sedona, Arizona. It's very difficult to find, he doesn't like to be bothered by the media or the public. But I can certainly give you the address! I'm sure he would be happy as I am to talk to you about his work."


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Sedona, AZ

"What do you mean there's no hotel rooms available?" asked Robert.

"Everything's booked - that last desk clerk said something about a vortex convention? What the hell is a vortex anyway?" said Luke.

Holly picked up a tourist guide and read aloud, "A vortex is an area of invisible, swirling energy emanating from the earth and producing an uplifiting, rejuvenating sensation in visitors." She thought to herself that at the moment the most rejuvenating thing that could happen to her would be for Luke to be trapped indefinitely in one of these things.

Robert pulled over a few minutes later, into the parking lot of a tourist information bureau. He came out quickly and announced, "Well, I managed to get the last available spot at the campground down the road. I guess we need tents and sleeping bags now."

"Camping?" lamented Holly.

"Camping! That's ridiculous, Scorpio," objected Luke.

"There's not a hotel room to be had for 50 miles and I'm tired of driving. We're camping. Just for the night."

The disappointment continued as they stopped at a camping store and were cheerfully informed, "You're in luck! We still have one tent. It's a six-person tent, so lots of room."

"No, listen, we need 3 small tents," interjected Robert.

"Sorry sir, but everything's been sold. There are a ton of tourists in town, you realize."

"Yeah, all right then, we'll take the tent and we'll need 3 sleeping bags as well.

The clerk frowned. "We only have one sleeping bag left as well. Sorry!" she finished cheerfully.

"We'll take it."

* * *

Once settled at the campground, the tension continued to mount. Holly assembled the tent by herself, grateful for a distraction. Luke took an inordinate amount of time to get a fire going. Attempting to make dinner, Robert managed to spill a large can of tomatoes all over himself. He went off to take a shower and change his clothes. 

With Robert away from Holly, Luke decided to hassle her. "So, English, when you going to give up on this play for Robert's attention? We've talked to all these scientists, none of them has said anything to support you. I'm willing to bet this Dr. Neuhaus isn't going to amount to anything either."

"Luke, I made a huge mistake," admitted Holly.

"Yep, you sure did, holding that antidote for ransom. And now you're going to have to pay the price," taunted Luke.

"Good Lord, Luke, have you always been so apt to jump to conclusions? You've been giving me such a hard time and you won't even let me tell my part of the story."

"Go on then, I'm pretty interested to know what your motivations are in this. I thought you made it pretty clear in Port Charles that it was all about money, but now you seem to be retracting that story.

"Fine, you want to know my motivation!" Holly was furious at having to explain herself to Luke but couldn't hold anything in any longer. "Before Robert went chasing after Anna and Faison," Holly fairly spat out their names, "he asked me to look after his little girl. It was the least I could do for him, and I tried, but I couldn't handle living in Port Charles any longer, and so I left. And you don't know how much I wonder that maybe if I had stuck around things would have happened differently for Robin. I know she's an adult now, and she's done so well, but maybe the course of her life would have been smoother if things had been more stable for her. " Holly's voice was raised and carried down the path to the campground road. Holly stopped talking when she noticed Robert coming into the campsite.

"Carry on, luv. I think I'd like to hear the rest of this as well," said Robert softly.

* * *

"So all this Crylium business started because I had some money that I was investing, and because of Robin's diagnosis, I was trying to focus on companies doing HIV research. And Dougald knew that, not about Robin so much, but that I wanted to focus my investments that way, and I think the poor man was just trying to please me." Holly's story cut like a knife into Robert. Here she was feeling such responsibility for her step-daughter, the daughter he had essentially abandoned for over half of her life. 

Holly began to recount the events of the last few months. "So I told you, Robert, how Dougald had invested in Crylium and when I started looking into the company, I found out that they already knew quite a bit about me." She paused to remember for a few seconds. "They told me they would be in touch and to keep things to myself. Unfortunately, I didn't heed their warning."

"I needed to know what Dougald knew, so I went home and told him about it. He was completely unaware. I told him to keep it quiet, but he was so mad that he went and complained to Evan. Neither of us realized it at the time, but in hindsight, Evan was obviously deeply embroiled with Crylium or Viranon or whomever the hell is in charge. It wasn't very long after that Dougald was killed." Holly paused again, collecting her thoughts. "He was stabbed to death. The official investigation concluded that it was a robbery, a junkie looking for money. But it was strange. Too many things didn't add up, but they were all ignored. I knew it had to be a warning. A message to me that they wouldn't hesitate to hurt more of the people that I cared for, so that I would do what they told me. And poor Dougald paid the price for that," finished Holly guiltily.

Luke looked at Holly with sympathy and offered her a beer from his six-pack, tossing one to Robert right after. Although it wasn't her beverage of choice, she put a hand around it to make sure it was cold, and then opened it and had a long drink.

"They called me shortly afterwards," recalled Holly. "It was the same man that I had spoken to in the Crylium laboratory: 'Mr. McFarlane was killed for his inability to keep his mouth shut. It would be a shame if his beautiful wife were to come to a similar end, wouldn't it?' he asked me. And then he went on to add, 'it would be easy enough to target young Dr. Scorpio's T-cell count, a shame after all the trouble you've gone to on her account.' They told me that they didn't think that I wanted to be responsible for more lives lost and that I should keep quiet and they'd be in touch."

"I was a bit off my head from then on. But then I didnt hear anything from Crylium for months. I was almost beginning to believe I was off the hook. How silly of me."

"So a few months went by without a word from Crylium. But then at the end of January, I came home one evening and there were two men in my sitting room. By that point, the encephalitis virus had been released. They were ready to call in my obligation. They told me that they needed me to recoup their investment, since the virus hadn't been sold before it was released."

Holly took a breath before continuing. "And then they pulled out their ace in the hole."

"They showed me a tape of you, Robert, giving a press conference about the virus. I can't even begin to describe how I felt to learn you were alive. It was as if time stopped. I have never felt such joy in my life. You were OK and..." Holly stopped speaking when she noticed Robert chuckling. "What are you laughing at?" she asked, in frustration.

"I'm well-acquainted with the feeling, luv." Robert smiled at her.

"Me too, for that matter." Luke chimed in.

"Point taken." Holly shook her head at the unreality of it all. "Anyway, they told me that I had to get the money for the antidote. And that I had to be believable." She thought back to the Crylium man's words:

"This should be easy for you, my dear, apparently you have a distinguished past as a teller of stories."

"And they threatened you Robert, too. So I really felt I had no choice." Holly sighed an enormous sigh of relief at finally having the whole story out in the open. "But I have a question for you. You really thought that I could allow innocent people to die?"

"I think that I didn't know what to think. It had been a long time; people change. What was it you said on the docks, 'we've both had to make compromises'? I guess I'd done enough things that I'm not proud of; I figured you could too. But the more I thought about it, the less any of it made sense. That's why I went to find you in the Markham Islands," replied Robert.

Holly stared at him directly. "I wouldn't want you to ever think that I could be that heartless. Especially about Robin."

Robert thought back to the comment he made on the docks when she pleaded with him to run away with her: "I might've gone for it if it wasn't for Robin."

"I guess I owe you another apology then"

Holly interrupted Robert. "You don't owe me anything."

"Holly." She looked over at Robert and also remembered the comment on the docks. "Then I owe you my thanks." Holly nodded in acknowledgement. "But why didn't you just tell me all this in Port Charles?"

"I should've. But I was too scared; I was being followed, there was already one death due to me, and you were just being so strange." Holly met Robert's eyes and the two stared at each other for a long moment. It was interrupted by Luke's voice.

"English." Holly looked over at Luke, who stood there, shame-faced. "I'm sorry. Really. I'm gonna go for a walk now to clear my head."

* * *

The campfire continued to burn steadily. Robert and Holly were sitting across from one another, each facing the fire. The sky was clear, filled with so many stars that there was little blue in between. Holly felt incredibly free, now that she had unburdened herself of the whole story. 

"Something keeps nagging at me, Holly," said Robert.

"What's that?"

"Somebody's gone to an awful lot of trouble to have you involved in this. A really disproportionate amount of trouble, wouldn't you say?"

"I guess that's what we're going to have to figure out."

"There's something else. I can't help but feel guilty for how much havoc I've brought upon your life. You're going to have to hold this over me for the rest of my life."

"No, I don't think so." Robert looked strangely disappointed at Holly's reply.

"I'll just save it for when it comes in handy," replied Holly with a wink.

* * *

Someone a few campsites over had a radio playing. The still night air carried the music softly across the campground. 

" 'cause a night like this

kept you wishing

for a night like this, again

take this night and

all its stars, well

could it be anyone else with you?

no no no

take this time now

and all its charm, well

could it be anyone else with you here right now?"

Holly listened to the music for a little while. She looked over at Robert who was busying himself throwing paper airplanes into the fire. She laughed quietly, "Some things never change." She mused that another thing that never changed was the depth of her love for Robert Scorpio. Sometimes it just managed to get covered up. She got up and sat beside him. He looked at her in surprise.

"Hi"

"Hi yourself," replied Holly. She scooched over on the log to get closer. Robert looked at her uncertainly, but put an arm around her anyway. He was relieved when he was rewarded with a smile and Holly leaning in to him a bit more. He handed her a piece of firewood.

"What's that for?"

"Figured you could give me a good whack with it."

"I get the feeling you've been beating yourself up quite enough over the last few days." Holly leaned back against Robert and looked up at the sky and silhouettes of the rock formations. "It's so beautiful here, isn't it?"

Robert smiled, "Seems like all the beauty is sitting right here beside me."

"Ooh, still a charmer, you," laughed Holly.

"Did it work?"

Holly tilted her head back and smiled. "Seems to have." She closed her eyes as her lips met Robert's in a lingering kiss. The music played on:

"Take this night and all its stars, well; could it be anyone else with you?"

* * *

**Author's note**: Lyrics from "A Night Like This", Tomi Swick, 2006. Check his page out on myspace where you can listen to the song (over and over again if you're so inclined). I heard this song on the radio the other day, and have since become obsessed with it. Of course, it helped that it fit perfectly with the scene I had planned. 


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Campground, Sedona, AZ

The next morning, the sound of birds chirping loudly woke Luke Spencer up. Birds on steroids from the sounds of things, he thought to himself. He rubbed his eyes for a minute, disoriented to find himself alone in a large tent, wrapped in a cocoon made out of an old blanket. He thought about where he was for a minute, and then remembered that he was in Arizona with Robert and Holly. He had gone for a long walk around the campground the night before, partly because he felt so bad about what he had said to Holly, and partly to give Robert and Holly a little space. He had gotten back to the tent late. He had been a little afraid to interrupt something, but when all he heard from outside the tent were the sounds of sleep, he had crept in carefully. Holly was in the sleeping bag, with Robert snuggled up beside her, an arm thrown protectively over her. Luke had noticed a blanket folded up on the side of the tent. He took it and wrapped himself in it, trying to ward off the chill of the night air.

Luke emerged from the tent and looked around the campsite. Holly and Robert were sitting facing one another on the picnic table bench, arms around each other, heads touching as they talked softly to one another. For their part, they had spent hours the night before making out like teenagers in front of the fire. "I wish we had a proper bed to adjourn to," Robert had murmured to Holly. "Mmmm. This is nice, though," she had replied.

Luke looked at the two of them for a minute. It was nice to see them together again after all this time, now that the truth was out. "All right, enough with the goo-goo eyes," he announced. "You're going to have to get a room if you keep this up," he joked.

"We would have but there weren't any in a 50 mile radius, remember?" quipped Robert. Holly started to giggle.

All of a sudden, Luke missed Tracy, even though she probably hadn't giggled in at least 30 years. He hoped this would all be over soon. He frowned as he wondered where that feeling came from.

"You didn't sleep well, Luke?" asked Holly innocently.

"I was freezing all night. Somebody else had the sleeping bag." Luke was glad for the distraction.

"At least you got a blanket, mate," pointed out Robert with a grin, "that's better than I did." He dodged a mock punch from Holly.

"I think I earned the sleeping bag, didn't I?"

"So what's the plan for today, pal?"

"We have a bit of a walk ahead of us. This Dr. Neuhaus is not too fond of visitors. His lab is in a very isolated area that we're going to have to hike to."

"Hike? I haven't hiked in 20 years!" lamented Luke.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. In fact, why are you still here? Clearly you don't have to protect me from Holly."

"Listen, I may have to protect you guys from each other. At least with me around you'll actually make it to the lab today."

* * *

It took several hours to hike to Neuhaus' lab. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day, not too warm but lovely and sunny. The views along the way of the red rocks of Sedona were spectacular. They fended their way along a trail and around rocks. Eventually they arrived at the lab, thanks to the map that Andrew Burns had provided. A large door stood out amongst the rocks.

All three looked at the door, unsure of what to do. Finally Holly spoke up: "Maybe we should just knock?"

The door opened slowly, revealing a small bespectacled man. He frowned at his visitors. "Ja?"

"Dr. Neuhaus? We were given your name by Andrew Burns. We'd like to ask you some questions about your work."

Neuhaus was fairly close-mouthed about his research. Surprisingly, he was somewhat willing to discuss his employer.

"Let me guess," Robert asked exasperatedly, "you were approached by a headhunter."

"Nein. I was contacted directly by an investor who offered to subsidize my work."

Robert asked a few more questions that didn't provide any useful information. Holly eventually asked, "Can you at least describe him physically?" None of the three were prepared for the answer.

"Certainly. He's a small man, wiry, long hair. European, Scandinavian, probably, judging from his accent."

Robert's face drained of color as he asked, "He smokes cigars?" Holly quickly realized who was being described and grabbed Robert's hand to support him. For his part, Luke's blood pressure almost doubled in 10 seconds.

"Ja, ja. Filthy habit." With their questions more or less answered, and half in shock, Robert, Luke and Holly thanked Dr. Neuhaus and quickly left the lab.

After his visitors left Dr. Neuhaus made a phone call: "They were just here. Ja, I told them you hired me." He paused to listen to the voice on the other end of the phone. "Oh, they were most definitely disturbed by the news."

* * *

Cesar Faison hung up the phone. He rubbed his hands together and gleefully contemplated the events that were to come. He pulled out his laptop and keyed in a few commands. In an instant, the release of another virus was initiated.

"Hiring all these scientists has paid off," Faison mused out loud, "their combined efforts have allowed them to produce a virus that has an especially short incubation period. It shouldn't be long before I can have my final revenge on Robert Scorpio."

* * *

Robert, Holly and Luke began the long hike back. On the way they discussed what to do next. All three were clearly shaken by the revelation that Faison was still alive. Robert had tried tracing his whereabouts on several occasions but had never been able to turn up a trail. It chilled his heart to think that the man was alive. He tried to shake the thoughts, but the cold feeling lingered. He was surprised that he wasn't feeling angry, yet. Holly and Luke had their own thoughts about Faison to contend with. 

"I say we go back to Phoenix. It shouldn't take long for Faison to tip his hand. And when he does, we'll be close to an international airport. But until then, I'm going to try not to think about him," announced Robert.

* * *

It was early evening by the time they got back to the car; the sun was just setting. Holly looked around at the beautiful rock formations and wished they had some time to appreciate them. Luke volunteered to drive them back to Phoenix, for which Robert was grateful. His back was killing him after having slept on the ground the night before. He popped a couple of anti-inflammatories and fell asleep almost instantly.

"You're going to have to entertain me, English, so I don't drive off the road."

"I'm not going to tell you a story."

"You and this old geezer back together, then?" Luke paused. "Heh. He must be asleep if I can get away with that kind of comment."

"It's looking that way," smiled Holly, "but I can hardly wrap my brain around it. If you had asked me at Christmas time where I would be right now, I never could have imagined this."

"Funny how things go, isn't it?"

Holly and Luke caught up on the years during the remainder of the drive to Phoenix.

* * *

Airport Hotel, Phoenix, AZ

Holly walked into the hotel room and sighed with happiness. Robert came in behind her and in a flash, swept her into his arms. She spun around and they met in a passionate kiss. Robert began to kiss Holly's neck while simultaneously slowly unbuttoning her shirt. Holly felt like she could melt. Neither of them could get over how fast and strong their passion for each other could flare.

It took every ounce of strength that she possessed for Holly to pull away from Robert's embrace, but she managed. "What's wrong?" asked Robert, looking none too pleased and quite worried at the same time.

"Nothing's wrong," paused Holly, "except, well, we're both rather dirty, aren't we?" she asked with a smile, brushing red dust off her forearm.

"That's ok, I don't mind." Robert reached for Holly but she jumped back playfully just out of his reach.

"No, you're taking a shower, then I'm taking one. That's it."

"You're bossier than you used to be," laughed Robert.

"No, it's just that your memory is failing you," retorted Holly as she pushed Robert into the bathroom.

A short time later, Robert came out of the bathroom in a robe, humming a little tune, feeling refreshed. "You were right, luv, a shower was an excellent idea. I feel so much better." He looked over at the bed and shook his head in disbelief. Holly was curled up on the bed, fast asleep.

"Maybe she's just napping?" thought Robert hopefully. He climbed on to the bed and nudged her shoulder gently, "Holly, Holly, time to wake up, big night planned, remember?" Robert rubbed her arm again. All he got in response was a series of mmmmms. He sighed in frustration and laid down beside her. After the lack of sleep the night before, the long hike, and the stress of learning that Faison was still alive, it didn't take long for him to follow her into sleep.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The next morning, Robert and Holly were awakened by a loud pounding on their hotel room door. Robert sat straight up in bed with a start. He got up and looked through the peephole and was somewhat relieved to see that it was Luke. Robert opened the door and Luke barged into the room without preamble.

"Good morning, lovebirds," he said as he sat on the bed and turned on the television. Holly and Robert looked at each other in disbelief. Then Holly looked down at her dust-covered arms, back at the bed, and realized that she had fallen asleep the night before. Embarrassment colored her cheeks as she looked over at Robert. "I'm sorry," she mouthed.

"Soon," he mouthed back in reply.

"Spencer, it's great that you decided to hand-deliver our wake-up call, but it worked, we're up. You can go now."

"Hang on, hang on, you have to see this." Luke was madly flipping channels on their TV, trying to find the report he had seen in his own room. Finally he fell on a news network: "Portuguese authorities have been working to contain an outbreak of a deadly virus in a small village 100 miles from Lisbon. WHO officials are also on scene, attempting to identify the nature of the virus. The hospital system is already showing signs of strain as the number of cases continues to mount."

Robert felt a weight in the pit of his stomach. It was beginning again, and this outbreak was only going to lead them to Faison. He shook his head to clear it as he realized that Luke was talking.

"I checked on the Internet and there's only one flight there that will get us in today. We have about 30 minutes to make it to the airport if we want to make the flight."

* * *

After another long series of flights, the three landed in Lisbon. From there, they took a train to the town closest to the virus outbreak.

"Ok, so we're here, so' s the virus. What are we supposed to do now?" asked Holly.

"I'm going to make a few inquiries so that we make our presence known. Then we head back to the larger town, away from the contagion. The last thing any of us need is to become infected, wouldn't you agree, Spencer?"

Luke moaned a little as he remembered how sick he had been. "Do you think they need any of my blood?" he offered.

"Unfortunately, this time your blood won't be of any help. Each virus is different, so each has its own set of antibodies. You're just as vulnerable as the next person," explained Robert.

"And while we're waiting, I was thinking you and I could go out for dinner," Robert said to Holly. "So you should go take a good nap." He had the foresight to duck as she reached over to playfully smack his head.

Luke laughed and said, "I'll give the two of you some time alone, then. We should meet up for breakfast tomorrow morning."

* * *

Robert had managed to locate one of the town's little gems. He had spoken to the maitre d' at their hotel, who pointed him in the direction of the Azul restaurant, which was conveniently around the corner. "It is where I take my girlfriend, sir, whenever we have a special night to celebrate."

Holly was resplendent in a cherry red sundress that she had thrown in her suitcase at the last minute. Robert had on the best shirt and pants that he had found in his bag, and a sports jacket. He fervently hoped that the restaurant would not require a tie. He was having enough trouble breathing just looking at Holly.

The little restaurant was beautiful as well. Tucked away in a basement, the exposed brick walls were lit by candles that were spread all around the room. Music played softly in the background.

The dinner was wonderful; they each had cod, a Portuguese specialty, prepared in a different way, as well as local wine.

Over dinner, they each spent a lot of time gazing at the other. Robert kept continually touching Holly's hand, as if to make sure that she was really there. Holly felt nearly as many butterflies as she had the night they first made love, only now they were tempered with the knowledge of what she was in store for.

The waiter interrupted their mutual reverie. "Can I get either one of you some dessert, tea, coffee?"

"No!" the two responded in chorus. Laughing, Robert elaborated, "No thanks, just the check."

* * *

Holly and Robert practically tumbled into their hotel room. Frantically kissing, hands moving everywhere at once, they were trying to cram almost 20 years lost into each and every movement. Holly stopped kissing Robert for a moment to catch her breath. She looked Robert in the eyes and lost her breath all over again when she saw that they were hooded with passion. He pulled her closer for one of the most intense kisses she had ever experienced. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and set to work on his shirt. For his part, Robert had essentially ripped off the shrug covering Holly's shoulders, revealing an expanse of skin, every inch of which he intended to mark. He began working on the hooks at the back of her dress, frustrated when they didn't come undone all at once.

Holly was just about to set to work on Robert's belt when she was quickly spun around. Robert's arm snaked around her waist and pulled her back in tight to him. She felt his arousal hard against her for a moment, then Robert relaxed his grasp and returned to the fastenings of her dress. He rumbled gruffly into her ear, "you are still the most beautiful woman in the world." Holly felt her knees go weak and then the cool rush of the room air against her skin as her dress fell to the floor, with her bra a close companion.

It astounded Holly how familiar Robert's touch was after so long. His hands roamed her breasts and made her almost dizzy with pleasure. She turned around and reached for his belt. "Do you know how much I want you, Robert Scorpio?" she asked as her nimble hands made quick work of the belt, the pants, and his underwear.

"Show me," he growled, as he fell back on the bed, pulling her onto him in the process.

* * *

Robert held Holly tightly in his arms. "My beautiful Holly," he said as he kissed the tip of her nose, "this is what I should've done when I found you in New York."

"Shh," she replied, "no sense crying over split milk." She propped herself on an elbow and declared, "The fates must like us."

"You think? Seems like our lives would have run a bit more smoothly if they did."

"But we keep getting second chances, don't we?" Holly smiled radiantly at Robert. "At some point, we're bound to run out."

"This is the last one that we'll need then, luv. I don't need another cosmic kick in the pants to realize how much I love you," smiled Robert.

"Oh, Robert. The day they showed me that tape of you, I thought my heart was going to explode. I was so happy that you were alive that I didn't even dare to hope that I would find myself in your arms again. I don't have the words to tell you how much I love you," finished Holly. With that, she found herself wrapped up in another passionate embrace.

* * *

**Author's PSA**: I originally envisioned a little safe sex moment in this chapter, what with Robin's HIV status and all that. I read a newspaper article some time ago that the leading demographic for new AIDS cases is individuals over 50. So just know that they used a condom (or several), OK? 


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Hours later, Holly hovered in that warm drowsy state midway between asleep and awake. She slowly became aware that there was an arm wrapped around her waist, a leg draped over her own, and warm breaths ruffling the top of her head. She stretched slightly, causing the other occupant of the bed to stir and tighten his grasp on her. Holly snuggled back into Robert's embrace, making a little happy sound at the same time.

"'Morning, beautiful," Robert nuzzled her neck as he spoke.

"Mmm, morning," replied Holly as she pulled Robert's arm closer around her. "How are you?" She half rolled over to look at him.

"Great. Slept like a baby." Robert grinned at Holly, then began to frown as he noticed her expression change. "What's wrong?"

"There is nothing I would like more than to freeze time and stay in this bed with you. Last night was so wonderfull, I had managed to shut out any thoughts of anything else. But I just remembered that any time now, we'll probably be hearing from Faison." Holly shuddered as she said his name.

"Everything will turn out fine, luv."

"How can you be so optimistic? We're talking about a man who killed his own mother here."

"Let me remind you that he was actually shooting at _you_, Holly."

"Oh, thanks, you know exactly how to make me feel better."

"Well, I think I do, actually," replied Robert with a suggestive smile as he leaned in closer to kiss Holly.

* * *

Holly and Robert had finally managed to untangle themselves from the bed and get dressed. "I'm hungry," announced Holly, "weren't we supposed to meet Luke for breakfast?"

They went downstairs and knocked on Luke's door. Receiving no response, Robert looked at his watch. "It's pretty late. He probably got hungry and went by himself," suggested Robert as he knocked again, "I'm sure it's nothing more interesting than that. Unless he's sleeping off a hangover."

* * *

Flashback to the previous night:

While Robert and Holly dined at a romantic little restaurant, Luke found himself at a neighborhood pub a few blocks from the hotel. This one happened to have an excellent kitchen, fortunately. He sampled feijoada, a Portuguese traditional dish, and tucked back a few beer. Stomach full, Luke headed back to the hotel. He travelled only a few feet before noticing that he was being followed. He had barely turned around to confront his pursuers when he was grabbed from behind by two burly men and dragged into an alley. Once there, they bashed him on the head and pulled him into a van waiting at the other end of the alley.

* * *

Having eaten breakfast and looked for Luke again, Robert and Holly returned to their hotel room. Holly spotted the note slid under the door first. She picked it up and started reading. Robert snickered as he noticed her holding it at arm's length. Holly raised an eyebrow at him. "And here I thought you were aging so gracefully," said Robert.

"Remember what I said about you being a charmer? I take that back," retorted Holly. She continued to read the letter "Oh no," she stated.

"What?" asked Robert worriedly.

"It's Luke. Faison has got him. He wants you to meet him in an hour. Alone," she finished.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"It's Luke. Faison has got him. He wants you to meet him in an hour. Alone," Holly finished. She passed the letter over to Robert. He scanned it quickly and took a deep breath.

"Here we go. Right, so I'm going to fish Spencer out of trouble and you're going to stay here."

"Stay here? I don't think so, you need backup," announced Holly.

Robert gave Holly the sternest look he could muster. "Need I remind you of our conversation this morning? Faison has tried to kill you in the past and won't hesitate to try again."

"It's you he really wants to kill, Robert."

Robert rubbed his head in frustration. "Let me make myself clear. You. are. not. coming. I can work more efficiently if I'm not worrying about you. Please, luv, just humour me." He looked at her imploringly.

Holly met his gaze head on. She saw the utter concern in his eyes and relented. "Fine. I'll stay behind. But if you get yourself killed again, Robert Scorpio..."

"I won't. I promise." He kissed her fast, but hard, and then wrapped her in his arms. "I have even more incentive to be careful now. I love you, but I've gotta go."

"Ok," replied Holly sadly. As Robert walked out the door, she glanced quickly at the clock. It read 11:37. The meeting was at 12:30.

* * *

Five minutes later, Holly looked at the clock again and smirked slightly. She thought to herself, "Robert's getting soft. I can't believe he thought I would give in that quickly." Grabbing a jacket, she went out the door, having memorized the address on the letter when she read it. She knew she had to catch the same train that Robert was taking back to the village; obviously she had to also make sure he didn't notice her. She ran down the street to the train station, attracting the attention of one of Faison's goons, who began running as well.

Holly watched Robert get on the train, and hopped on herself several cars down from the one that Robert had entered. The man trailing her discreetly got on the same car.

* * *

At the village of Furtado, all three disembarked, along with a handful of other passengers. With the virus still raging, few dared travel to Furtado. Holly ducked behind a billboard so that Robert wouldn't see her. She let him get quite a few paces ahead of her, then she took another route to the address from the letter. The last thing she wanted was for Robert to notice her before she actually made it to Faison's rendez-vous point. Her pursuer followed behind as well, content for her to make it to her destination.

Holly peeked around the corner and scanned the street for any sign of Robert. Satisfied that he must have already entered the building, she crossed the street and tried the door. It was locked. "Maybe I can waltz in the back door instead?" she thought to herself. To her delight, the back entrance to the two-story building was open. Entering cautiously, Holly crept through the corridors of the abandoned building, which looked like it had once served as an industrial bakery. She heard footfalls and jumped behind a door, heart pounding. Hearing the sounds grow dimmer as the person continued down the hall, Holly let out her breath and returned to the corridor, heading in the opposite direction from the person she heard.

Meanwhile, the maker of those footsteps moved swiftly down the hallway and down the stairs, hands on his gun, eyes scanning the hallway as he went. Robert was beginning to get frustrated that not only was there no sign of Luke anywhere in the building, there was no sign of Faison either. Robert Scorpio had always had patience on his side, but he just wanted to get this whole situation over with. Killing Cesar Faison, the man who had messed up his life in so many ways, would put such a period on a time of his life that he was more than happy to move on from.

Holly found a staircase and decided to try her luck. She went up one flight and found herself in a narrow hallway. She began trying doors, and was delighted on her third try to find Luke, handcuffed to some sort of old-fashioned kneading machine.

"English!" Luke exclaimed. "Where's Scorp?"

"To be honest, I thought he would have found you already. He's got to be around somewhere. I folllowed him here."

"Oh, he is going to kill you." Holly shot Luke a dirty look over his choice of words. "Sorry, Holly. He will be none too pleased to see you."

"Your friend may not be, but we are," jeered the Crylium goon as he entered the room, pressing a gun to Holly's upper back. Holly didn't have time to think as an old instinct kicked in. She reached quickly around, grabbing the gun and flipping the man in a perfectly-executed single hand thrust. Luke moved out of the way as best he could, given that he was handcuffed to the machine. It was enough so that the thug's head came round and bounced off the mixing bowl, knocking him unconscious. Holly looked down at the man, first in surprise, then with self-satisfaction. She quickly removed his gun from his hand and began searching his pockets for the keys to Luke's handcuffs.

Holly found the keys and unlocked Luke. They replaced the cuffs on the goon. Luke immediately reached for the gun. "Give it to me, English."

"Why should I do that?"

"You hate guns, Holly. And you have horrible aim. Remember just a few months when you managed to shoot me in the leg?"

"Who says I wasn't aiming for you, Luke?" Holly replied with a smirk as she handed the gun over to Luke. He took it, giving her a mistrustful look. She smiled sweetly in return.

As they headed back into the corridor, shots erupted. Luke managed to get off a couple of good return shots and silence descended once again. He lowered himself to the ground with a moan.

"What happened?" asked Holly. "Luke, are you OK?" She looked down at him and saw that his leg was bleeding.

"Ugh. Now I have a matched set." Luke grimaced in pain. "It's ok, I'll be fine." Holly handed him her jacket which he turned into a bandage. "English, here, take the gun. You go find Scorpio."

"No, Luke, you keep it. You're a sitting duck right now. What if more thugs come along? Besides, you're absolutely right, I do have horrible aim with a gun," finished Holly with a small laugh, trying to keep the moment light.

"Holly, you be careful. This is going to be a fight to the death." Holly nodded, biting her lip, and turned and ran down the corridor.

* * *

Two floors down, Robert entered into another room, looking for Luke. He turned and came face to face with Cesar Faison. 


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Abandoned bakery, Furtado, Portugal

Two floors down, Robert entered into another room, looking for Luke. He turned and came face to face with Cesar Faison. Both men held guns on one another, circling around.

"You're looking a little worse for wear these days, Faison," commented Robert. Faison's face was covered in ribboned scars.

"Oh this?" Faison gestured to his face. "Yes, I keep having these problems with explosions on my boats."

"Can't imagine why," commented Robert snidely. "So you're the lunatic at the helm of Viranon?"

"You say lunacy, I say exciting business venture."

"Fine. We'll have to agree to disagree. Why set up Holly so elaborately?"

"Ah yes, Holly. Your wife? Your ex-wife? Who knows? One almost needs a scorecard to keep track of your love life, Robert. I guess I may as well satisfy your curiosity, since you will soon be dead. Again." pronounced Faison. "There are two main reasons why Holly has been so integral to my plan. The first is that since you seem to have lost interest in my beautiful Anna, I needed some way to get _your _attention. The other is that Holly has never been appropriately punished for her role in my beloved mother's death."

"What? You really are crazy! Holly didn't have anything to do with Nanny's death. _You_ shot her. I remember, I was there."

"Ah, but that is not the way I remember it at all. What I remember is that my poor mother was so deluded in her affection for that wench, she was willing to sacrifice herself. Holly Sutton never merited that sort of love. So once I have finished with you, I will take my time with my just revenge on her as well."

* * *

Out in another hallway, Holly heard voices coming from what sounded like down below. She carefully opened a door and found a catwalk extending out from it. Holly began crawling along it, hidden behind the short walls of the catwalk.

"...once I have finished with you, I will have my just revenge on her as well." Holly heard Faison's voice clearly. As always, it made her skin crawl. She never understood how a wonderful woman like Nanny MacTavish could produce a hideous child like Faison. The phrase 'nurture versus nature' popped into her head unbidden.

* * *

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right now?" demanded Robert.

"Because I would shoot you back. And besides," intoned Faison solemnly, "the fog is rolling in."

Something tugged at neurons in the back of Robert's mind, like an itch. The phrase had been implanted so long ago, that it didn't hold much power anymore, but unfortunately it was enough to momentarily unruffle Robert. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Faison, watching his reactions like a hawk, seized the moment to snatch Robert's gun away from him.

Robert cursed himself as he realized what had happened. He glared at Faison, who was grinning evilly at him. "Sometimes it's almost too easy. Now, we're going to go outside." He motioned to the door with his gun. "Hands up, if you please." Robert reluctantly acquiesed and began walking to the out of doors.

Up on the catwalk, Holly began to scramble backwards, desperate to make her way outside.

* * *

On their way out, Faison expounded at length about his glee at finally having his ultimate revenge on Robert. After a little bit, Robert started tuning him out, trying to focus his thoughts on a plan of escape. He jolted back abruptly to Faison's voice when he half-heard something about a needle full of virus. Faison had walked them out of the building, out to some sort of canal or levee-like structure. The canal seemed to be out of use, only a low trickle of water flowed through it, and rocks were scattered around it. Robert slipped a little as they walked over the slippery bottom.

"That's right. My endowment to the sciences has paid off richly. My team of scientists has managed to produce the strongest, most virulent virus known to humanity. The strain contained in this needle," he pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to Robert, "should have effects almost instantaneously. And this time, there's no antidote." Robert tried valiantly not to gulp.

"You, Scorpio, will be the test subject. It's also highly contagious. That's why we're outside - more protection for me. The best part of this will be when you take your dying breaths in Holly's arms, you're almost certain to infect her as well." Faison noticed Robert's brow furrow. "Oh yes, your beloved should be along any minute now."

As if on cue, Holly came running over the embankment. In the distraction caused by her arrival, Faison managed to get Robert into a headlock and held the needle full of lethal virus to his jugular.

"Oh, Mrs. Mcfarlane," he taunted, "how nice of you to join us. It's always so much more fulfilling to kill someone when a loved one is around to witness it." Holly pulled up some feet away.

Robert spoke up: "Holly, get away. Go get Luke and get yourselves away from here. Whatever's in this bloody needle is lethal."

Holly had no intention of leaving, especially when she spotted one of the Crylium goons coming over the other side of the embankment. At that same moment, Robert made his move and attempted to free himself. Holly saw the thug heading over to help Faison. She desperately wished she had taken the gun from Luke. She looked around frantically, hoping to find a large stick or something with which to enter the fight. Her eyes fell on a medium-sized rock. She grabbed it, crouched down and delivered it down the canal. The rock slid along rapidly, and knocked the goon right off his feet, sending him flying.

A few feet away, Robert and Faison were locked in a struggle, as Luke had put it, to the death. Both were grappling for the advantage. Holly gasped as they fell to the ground and rolled down the canal. She closed her eyes as she heard a gutteral moan.

* * *

When Holly opened her eyes again, afraid of what she might witness, her heart sang to see Robert scrambling away from Faison's body. The color was rapidly draining from Faison's face, and his body was beginning to twitch. Holly noticed that the large needle sticking straight out of his thigh. She heaved an enormous sigh of relief.

Robert motioned with one of the guns towards Faison, and spoke to the Crylium goon: "You'd best be out of here, mate. Take the opportunity while you can." Robert backed up and ran up the hill towards Holly. He took her by the hand, pulled her closer to the building and then wrapped her in his arms. They held each other for what seemed like forever.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

As was often the case, the news of what had happened in Portugal made its way back to Port Charles and spread through the town almost as fast as the encephalitis had. Though Luke had gone on ahead, after having his leg tended to, it had taken Robert and Holly a couple of days to get back from Furtado. Right after Faison's death, a haz-mat team had come and taken away his body, and no one else appeared to been infected with what killed him. The other virus that Faison released raged on in Furtado for a few days, until an antidote was developed by Andrew Burns. There remained a fair bit of paperwork and red tape for Robert to sift through, but there was also a fair bit of downtime that he spent with Holly. They spent the time relaxing, trying to reacquaint themselves with each other, and trying to sort out the future.

* * *

Port Charles 

A couple of days later, Holly walked into the bar at the Metrocourt. She was supposed to meet Robert there, after having spent a good part of the day meeting with a lawyer. Holly took a quick look around and saw few faces she recognized. Carly walked past her, did a double-take and glared suspiciously. Holly was about to apologize for the whack on the head Carly had gotten from the Crylium goon, when she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Holly! You're back!" Robin walked up to her and gave her a quick hug.

"Hello Robin, I didn't see you."

"Oh, I was sitting over in the corner." Robin blushed slightly.

Holly glanced over and took notice of Patrick. "He's cute. Is that the doctor your father is dying to complain about?"

Robin frowned. "Dad told you about Patrick?"

"Not really, beyond muttering about some hotshot young doctor."

"That's about all he knows of him," Robin complained bitterly. Holly smiled sympathetically at her. Robin decided to change the subject. "I was so relieved to hear that you had nothing to do with the virus. None of it made sense to me."

"I appreciate that, Robin."

Robin was dying with curiosity. "So, if you don't mind me being nosy, what is happening between you and Dad?" A small 'cat that ate the canary' grin crossed Holly's face. Robin noticed and asked, "So it is true? You're back together? Luke kinda alluded to it, but he said I needed to hear it from 'the horses' mouths'."

Holly paused thoughtfully. "We're feeling our way through it. It's been such a long time since we were married, we kind of need to ease back into that. We've both changed some over the years."

"Some more than others," Robin replied, a little spitefully.

Holly sighed. "Well, here's the plan. I am moving to New York City. Remember when I went back to school?" Robin nodded. "It's about time that I put that degree to use. I'm going to open up an art gallery."

"Wait a second, you - singular - are moving to New York? What's Dad doing? I thought you were getting back together?" asked Robin.

"Your father is going to spend some time in Port Charles. He can do his Medical Rescue Agency work from anywhere, and he has a daughter here he needs to catch up with," declared Holly. "We're going to have a long-distance relationship for a little while, at least. Not that it's really that long of a distance," Holly smiled.

'It really surprises me that you're prepared to get back with him. He did throw you in jail, after all."

"I was holding the antidote for ransom, remember?"

"Yeah, well, he could have looked into things more."

Holly tried not to laugh at the irony in her step-daughter's frustration. "Oh Robin, everything he did over the last 15 years was to protect you. It's just that the experiences were hard on him. We both need to give him a little time to become the man he was. Go easy on him."

Holly flashed quickly to a recent conversation with Robert regarding Robin's stubbornness. "Robert, she's not that far from 30. She's not your little girl anymore."

"But she's as stubborn as a mule. She doesn't listen to a thing I have to say," said Robert desperately.

Holly laughed uproariously at that remark. "Good Lord, what do you expect, given her parents?

A minute later, Robert strode into the bar. Both his and Holly's faces lit up at the sight of one another. Robin remembered those looks from when she was a child visiting them in Australia. She was old enough to not harbor any hopes of her parents ever getting back together. Truth be told, given current circumstances, she figured Holly had a gentle side that had a better chance of reaching the father she remembered. Anna would be more likely to kill Robert at this point. Robin smiled slightly at the mental image, then stored it away.

Holly also had a stubborn side. She elbowed Robin discreetly. "Go talk to your dad," she whispered, and left the two of them to talk.

* * *

Holly walked over to the bar to sit with Luke, keeping an eye on Robin and Robert. "Hey, English." 

"Luke, how's your leg?" Holly gave him a little hug.

"It's getting better. Listen, English, I have something I need to say to you." Holly raised an eyebrow at Luke's serious tone. "I feel really bad for the way I treated you. How can I make things up to you?"

"Funny you should ask!" grinned Holly. "I actually am in need of your help."

Luke looked at her with interest.

"My credit is in tatters. Any chance of you convincing your wife to float me a loan for my art gallery?"

"That's the least I can do, Holly. I'll talk to Spanky Buns tonight."

"I am so thankful you stuck with 'English' for me," laughed Holly.

* * *

Robert crossed the room to where Holly and Luke were sitting. He put an arm around Holly's waist and gave her a quick kiss. "Can I pry Holly away from you for a few minutes, mate?" 

"Sure pal. You guys want to have dinner tomorrow?"

"You got it."

"How'd your talk with Robin go?" Holly asked Robert.

"Ehh, could have been worse. She was mostly interested in hearing about the viruses. How about you, what did you hear from the lawyer?" Robert sat down next to Holly.

"Well, to begin with, all the criminal charges against me are being dropped."

"That's a good start," said Robert encouragingly.

"The other thing is the question of my finances. It seems that despite its being headed by a criminal, the initial investment in Crylium stands because it was a legitimate company. So that's all gone."

"You never did tell me where your money came from in the first place."

"Nope. And you don't need to know that, either," retorted Holly with a smile. "But the good news is that for two separate reasons, I'm not accountable for the additional money that Dougald invested. One is due to the origins of the money, coming from Viranon." she paused then and lowered her eyes shyly.

"And the other?" wondered Robert.

"Well, your being alive sort of invalidated my marriage to Dougald, and since I had nothing to do with the other part of the investment and we weren't legally married, I'm not accountable for his additional debts," finished Holly quickly. She sat back and waited anxiously for Robert's reaction.

Robert looked at her and laughed. "Are you saying we're still married?"

"Umm, yeah. I never got around to signing the divorce papers," she admitted. "The lawyer said neither of us is guilty of bigamy, but it does invalidate both our subsequent marriages." Holly looked at him for a minute. "Why are you laughing?" She frowned, wiping the smile off Robert's face.

"Never mind. What do you want to do about it?" he asked nervously.

Holly paused for a long moment before speaking. "I think that when it comes to our relationship we've made too many hasty decisions in the past. So maybe while we sort the question of 'us' out, we could just leave well enough alone."

"I think that I would be very much ok with that," Robert said with a relieved smile. "Come dance with me." They began dancing beside the bar. "When are you going to leave for New York?"

"Probably in a couple of days. When are you going to come visit?"

"Whenever you're ready for me."

"Well, I have to go find a location for the gallery and find myself a place to live, and get it furnished You'll have to give me at least a week before you come to visit. Otherwise you'll have to sleep on the floor and I can't be held responsible for what that will do to your back," Holly smirked.

"Oh, absence just makes the heart grow fonder. Soon you won't be able to resist any of my charms. Are you going to send me sappy text messages in the meantime?" Robert pulled out his cell phone and texted "rs u r 2 cute" to himself. He showed it to Holly, who started to giggle. "It's a new era, luv." Robert returned Holly's laughter as the music played a little louder.

"The Space Between  
Where you're smiling high  
Is where you'll find me if I get to go  
The Space Between  
The bullets in our firefight  
Is where I'll be hiding, waiting for you  
The rain that falls  
Splash in your heart  
Ran like sadness down the window into your room  
The Space Between  
Our wicked lies  
Is where we hope to keep safe from pain 

Take my hand  
'Cause we're walking out of here  
Oh, right out of here  
Love is all we need, dear

The Space Between  
What's wrong and right  
Is where you'll find me hiding, waiting for you  
The Space Between  
Your heart and mine  
Is the space we'll fill with time  
The Space Between..."

Robert twirled Holly around melodramatically. They both laughed as he dipped her back and and then brought her up for a long, sweet, passionate kiss.

The End

* * *

**Author's Notes**: 

"The Space Between", Dave Matthews Band, Everyday, 2001.

It's been a hoot. Time to take a little break - I won't be as bold to say I am never going to write again this time, but I do need some time off. Hopefully the real GH will give me some incentive to keep writing. In the meantime, we fanfic writers thrive on feedback. If you've enjoyed this story, but you haven't left any comments here or on the Welcome to the Scorpios' board, please do! It will warm my heart, and warm hearts write better fanfic.


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